Why?
by twilighter890
Summary: “‘Why did you let them believe it was you who cheated?’‘Why did you let me?’” After Danny’s affair with Rikki, Lindsay left NY and the CSI lab thinking that she was the one who had an affair. Now she’s back. Better summery inside prolouge.
1. Chapter 1

"'Why did you let them believe it was you who cheated?' 'Why did you let me?'" After Danny's affair with Rikki, Lindsay left NY and the CSI lab thinking that she was the one who had an affair. Now she's back helping the with a case and she has to face the friends who think she betrayed them.

**AN: Hi guys!! This is my first CSI NY story and I have to tell you all that I suck at updating, but im spending 9 hours on a train tomorrow so hopefully I'll get chapters if not the whole story done. Be kind I'm only 12. **

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**Prologue** --

_Tick. Tick. Tick_.

The sound of a watch ticked louder with every second.

'Or maybe that's just me.' She thinks.

_Tick. Tick. Tick._

She look out the window of the plane. The New York airport is just coming into view. The city gets bigger and bigger. The pilot of the plane announces the decent to the ground.

A young women peers out the window. She can see the streets and cars and buildings coming into view. She looks out at the place that at one time, held a new beginning for her. A new life. But now only holds bad memories and a lot of 'what ifs'.

The plane lands. She makes her way out of the air port filled with grouchy, over worked New Yorkers and hails a taxi.

Her once short brown hair has grown out and was falling out of the clip she had it in by the time she climbed in the car.

She tells the cab driver an address. Her light, barely noticeable country twang coming through and he grunts his approval.

"Whatya doin' in New York?" The cab driver asks as he starts driving.

"Business." Came the women shot reply.

"What kind of business do you do to get yourself in the _Four Seasons_?" he asks, "You don't look like a high class hooker."

She laughed. The bluntness of New Yorkers never ceases to amaze her. "Hardly."

"Well then whatcha do?" he probes.

She decides she likes this man's relentless attitude and answers, "Depends on what days you ask me. Some days I keep people from going to jail. Sometimes I help the go to jail."

"A lawyer?" he grunts out.

"A CSI. Basically, I find the clues that sends people to jail." The woman sums up.

"Don't cops do that?"

"Not all of it."

With that the cab driver quiets down and lets his passenger look at all of the familiar places she once walked to or around every day.

The cab driver pulls over at the hotel spot and helps the woman out of the car.

He looks at the air port tags on her luggage and says, "I hope you have good business, Ms. Monroe."

Lindsay Monroe smiled at the driver and pays him. "Thank you. So do I."

He leaves and she enters the five star hotel.

"So do I." she mumbles.

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**AN: Alright. There you have the prologue. **

**Review if you want me to continue and if you like the story idea.**

**Oh and could someone help me create a descent title? Cuz, wow mine is crappy It'd be appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

Thank You for the reviews!!! Here's chapter 2 or 1.. Depending on how you view the prologue.

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**Chapter 2**

It was hours later when Lindsay finally looked at what brought her back to New York. She picked up a file with and FBI emblem on it and sat down on the hotel couch. She opened it and began to read.

_28 year old, Diana Nicolette Alexander. DOB April 28, 1982. The daughter of the French ambassador Louis Armond Alexander, was found murdered in Central Park. Cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. No signs of sexual assault. No signs of DNA belonging to anyone other then victim. _

She was murdered in one of the most public place in New York, but somehow no one saw her die.

FBI was called in on request (more like demand) by the French ambassador, much to chagrin of the New York Crime Lab.

Lindsay was put on the case by her boss due to her history with the crime lab.

'_Oh and what an eventful history that had been' _Lindsay thought ruefully.

It had been years since she had seen any of the CSIs who were heading the case. She had worked with that team for over two years before she left. She had been their co-worker, friend, and eventually something more to one of them.

'Then it all went to hell.' Lindsay thought.

After reviewing the case of another hour or so, she puts the case down and gets off the couch. She looks out of the window and decides to go out for a run. After putting her shoes and running clothes on, she heads out.

She makes sure to go nowhere near Central Park for the fear of being seen by the CSIs. They don't know that Lindsay was flown in to help. All they know was that FBI was taking over and that the FBI forensics team was being led by one of their detectives.

She ran for a good while, winding through other joggers and family who were on the trails. Her hair was coming out of it's pony tail and her face was flushed by the time she decided to stop.

The sun was going down by that time and she decided to get some coffee for the walk home. She walks a familiar path, through the throng of people just trying to get home.

A coffee shop sat on the corner of 5th and Main Street, unchanged by the four years that she hadn't visited it. It was a coffee shop she used to visit almost every day in the mornings before work. It was a place that all of her old team used to visit.

She walked through the doors and the smell of fresh coffee hit her. She smiled a bit.

She walked to the front and was greeted by a very hyper teen at the cash register. Lindsay placed her order and watched the teen make it. Lindsay paid and sat down at a small table in the chair facing away from the door.

The door chimed again about two minutes after she sat down. She saw the reflection of who it was in the napkin holder. Lindsay stiffened. She watched his eyes scan the shop and rest on her back. He walked closer and stopped about two yards away from Lindsay's chair. She didn't turn. Didn't make any moves that she knew or cared who was behind her.

"I wasn't told that you were back in town." The man said.

"You weren't supposed to know. Not until tomorrow." Lindsay retorted calmly, taking a sip of her coffee without turning around.

The man made no move to get closer to her.

"I take it it's not a coincidence that you're here at the same time of the girl's murder and the FBI's involvement." he said.

Lindsay didn't answer. The man didn't expect her to. He stood there for a few seconds longer when she finally addressed him.

"Hello Mac."

"It's been awhile, Lindsay."

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Ok there's chapter two. Now if I can ask a question for those living in cities… I'm in Washington DC for vacation.. Is it normal for people to jump in front of subway trains???

Please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for the reviews…. And on with chapter 3 or 2... Depending on how you view the prologue.

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**Chapter 3**

Neither said anything for awhile. Mac just stood there and Lindsay sat. She still had not turned to look at him.

"Are you going to sit down?" She finally asked. She couldn't stand the tension any longer.

"Are you going to let me?" He shot back.

She smirked. "Sit down."

He walked around the table and sat down. His face was expressionless. Hers was the same.

"Why are you here?" He asked coolly.

"To take over your case. To solve the girl's murder." She responded curtly.

"I never pictured you as an FBI agent, Lindsay."

"What are you doing Mac?" Lindsay asked her former boss.

"What do you mean." His tone emotionless. It always frustrated her. When she was younger and working for Mac. He always could perfect a cold mask. Never giving anything away.

"Why are you sitting here? Why are you talking to me civilly? I realize it's an act, but you made it very clear the day I left, you never wanted me anywhere near New York."

Her voice was sharp but there was something in her eyes, something that sparked up when she neared the end of her rant. Sadness.

"I'm sitting here because you asked me to. I'm talking to you nicely because your about to take over my lab and there doesn't need to be anymore tension then there already will be at the lab. And further more, Agent Monroe, I'd appreciate it if you act as professional as your capable when working at the lab." His voice turned steely.

Her eyes flashed dangerously, Mac noticed, like they used to when she was interrogating a killer.

"Don't talk to me about being professional, _Detective Taylor_. It wasn't very professional when you and your team blackballed me out of New York!" Her voice was still deathly calm but an angry undertone could be heard.

Mac stopped the retort on the tip of his tongue. He takes a deep breath and says, "Can you say you didn't deserve it?"

Lindsay looked down.

'_No I didn't' _she wanted to say.

Instead she stood up, put a tip down on the table and spoke calmly, "I'd appreciate it if you kept my being in New York to yourself for the time being." She then said mockingly, "Wouldn't want to cause unnecessary tension. Would you Mac?"

She proceeded to walk out the door with out another look back.


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for the reviews!!! On with chapter 4!!!!

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**Chapter 4**

That was not how she wanted to end her first conversation with Mac in 4 years but it wasn't a shock that it did. Mac had made it perfectly clear that she was not wanted in New York.

It was around midnight when she finally went to sleep. When she got to her hotel after talking to Mac she wanted to go straight to sleep.

That didn't happen. From the moment she laid down, she was plagued with thoughts and worries about her return and how she would be received in the lab.

Mac had already made his displeasure clear.

Adam would probably ignore her.

Hawkes would glare and make snaky comments.

Flack would be very cold and defensive.

Stella….well Lindsay didn't even want to think about that. Stella led the team in the crusade to make Lindsay feel as unwanted as they possibly could.

And finally Danny. Her old partner. The cause of her being left friendless and alone in New York. The cause of her leaving New York. The cause of so many nights crying.

Well Danny's reaction would probably be the quietist. He owed her. He had no idea of what she'd given up for him. All he knew was that people got mad at her instead of him.

She didn't sleep peacefully, far from it.

When she woke up in the morning, she was tired. Tired and sore. Sore back and sore feelings. As sad as it was, she still holds resentment towards the team and Danny.

After getting ready, Lindsay left her hotel room and took the elevator down to the lobby.

She was stopped by a friendly voice.

"How the hell is it that you get the Four seasons while I get Motel Eight?"

Lindsay laughs and turns toward the voice. "Holiday Inns are hardly Motel Eights, Derek."

Standing in the middle of the hotel lobby, was Derek Reid, the tall, dark and handsome assistant supervisor to Lindsay.

He also knew _almost _everything that happened in New York.

"Why are you here? I thought the team was meeting up at the lab." she asked.

"We are, however, I thought you might want your knight in shining armor to help make an entrance and to intimidate anyone who'd be stupid enough to make rude comments to you." he said with a smirk.

"Oh yeah, you're my knight in shining FBI standard-issue body armor." She said rolling her eyes, " And thank you."

"That's what partners are for. Now let's go solve a murder." he stated. He then started to walk towards their black FBI cars.

Lindsay chuckled, then called out behind him, "Hey, I'm your boss! I should be the one saying that."

"Whatever you say, Monroe."

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The car ride was silent. Derek insisted on driving, which was fine with Lindsay. She didn't think she would be able to drive, with her hands shaking so bad.

"Calm down. Your driving me insane." Derek grumbled.

"Sorry."

"It's not like their going to shoot you on scene." He said.

"They might." She mumbled.

"Think of the bright side. I would get a promotion." His attempt of humor was comforting.

"Shut up." She said affectionately.

They pulled up to the NY crime lab. Lindsay stared at her old work place. It hadn't changed except for a few plants outside.

She sat there for a few minutes. Derek gave her a little time but eventually tapped her on the shoulder.

"Come on. The teams waiting."

She eventually got out of the car and followed her partner up towards the lab.

When she got inside, it was like a blast from the past. The lab looked exactly the same. Lab techs were walking around and hovering over machines.

"Donnor's setting up in one of the conference rooms. We got to go alert Detective Taylor that we are here."

"Ok. I know where they'll be." she mumbled.

He followed Lindsay through the lab corridors and past offices until they reached a different conference room.

Lindsay stopped. Through the glass they could see everyone. All of the team was there.

"You know what? Derek go on in. I'll be there in a second. I just need to catch my breath." Lindsay told him.

"Fine. Come in when you can." he said. And with one last look, he walked ahead and into the room.

She watched him flash his badge and watched Mac and Stella narrow their eyes. They never liked outside involvement.

She took a deep breath and walked forward. She could hear the conversation inside. Derek was speaking.

"I know ya'll don't want FBI's involvement-" Derek began but was cut off.

"That's an understatement." Flack murmured.

"_But" _Derek continued annoyed. "It's not your decision. So my partner and I will try to make this as quick and comfortable as we can."

"We don't need FBI's help." Danny cut in. His voice was a sharp pain in her heart.

"Not for you to decide." Derek repeated. "Besides FBI _should_ have total jurisdiction here. Your lucky we're letting you keep some of the case."

"Lucky?" Danny said sarcastically. "We'd be able to solve it faster then your pretty boys in suits can."

"What scared that a pretty boy like me will solve it first?"

Lindsay knew that Derek was goading him. Testing his boundaries. She also knew that with Danny's temper, things could get out of hand quickly.

"Well aren't you the charmer." Danny replied angrily.

Lindsay decided to intervene before things turned to violence. She walked into the room and said,

"That's Derek. Charming people where ever he goes. Making friends with none, pissing off all."

"That hurts my feelings, boss." Derek complained with a smile.

All eyes went to her and the room went silent. Shocked faces were the only thing she saw.

"Lindsay is the FBI agent in charge of this case." Mac said after a few seconds into the silence.

"Well I can see that you did what I asked and didn't tell them." Lindsay said to Mac.

"Lindsay?"

Lindsay looked over. Her face was blank and her body stiff.

"Danny."

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OK so there you got to meet Lindsay's new partner.

When you think of Derek Reid, think of Derek Morgan from Criminal Minds.

Oh and you could say that Lindsay is now in Mac's position only with the FBI and Derek is Stella.

Or Derek is Calleigh to Horatio

Or Catherine to Grissom.

I hope you get what I mean.


	5. Chapter 5

I hope you liked the last chapter!! Thanks to those who reviewed. I really appreciate it.

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**Chapter 5**

"Lindsay?!?! What the hell are you doing here?" Stella's shocked, angry voice.

"Well hello to you to Stella." Lindsay answered sarcastically. She repeated what she said to Mac yesterday. "I'm here to solve a murder. Do you have a problem with it?"

"I sure as hell do, have a problem with it!" Her outraged voice made Mac wince. Her eyes cut to Danny, who was just sitting there silently watching the confrontation.

Lindsay wasn't at all shocked by her words. A little hurt by them sure, but not shocked.

"Hey now, why don't you just calm down, Detective." Derek demanded.

"This has nothing to do with you." Flack joined the conversation.

"It has nothing to do with either of you two. If I remember what she told me." Derek responded curtly.

Lindsay knew that this would happen. That's why she didn't want to take this case. She didn't want to come back to New York. She was happy with her life at the FBI. And she really didn't want to see her partner and old team have a blow up.

"That's enough." Lindsay said quietly. "Derek, go check on Donner and Layla. Make sure they're setting everything up. Cho and King should be there. If they're not call them."

"Are you sure, boss? I got whole other round of comebacks if these people so much as insult you." he checked.

"Comebacks? What are we, 12? Go. Help the team set up." She commanded.

With one last glare around the room, which seemed to settle on Danny, he left.

"Well at least you don't need your new partner to stick up for you." Stella said rudely.

Lindsay rolled her eyes. She had endured a month of those types of comments before she left New York. She turned to Mac.

"Professionalism severely lacking, Detective Taylor. Didn't we talk about this at the coffee shop?"

"You knew?" Danny asked. All eyes turned to him. He was looking at Lindsay. What shocked everyone in the room except Lindsay, was the look he gave her.

It wasn't one of anger or hurt, like everyone expected. No. It was one of guilt. Barely noticeable, but still there.

"You knew that she was back." he continued. It was no longer a question.

"I did." He answered.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It wasn't my place to tell." Mac looked really awkward.

"You should have told me." Danny didn't look thrilled that he wasn't told.

Lindsay didn't feel particularly comfortable, with the conversation or with the fact that Stella was glaring daggers at her.

"Right. Well as much as I love this discussion, I really don't love this discussion. So can we go see if my team is ready to go?" she asked.

"Hold on. Can I talk to _my _team for a minute?" Mac said. "Alone."

Lindsay looked at them. Not that she'd let it show, but she was kind of hurt that they were so bluntly telling her to leave. And hurt that she was left out.

"Fine. From what I hear, my teams down the hall." Lindsay left the room, but she didn't go far, she passed the next door way and ducked in. She didn't want to be seen by them.

From the door, she could hear the rumbling of their voices from the next room. She could hear a feminine voice raise louder for a bit, but was calmed down by what she assumed to be Mac.

After a few minutes, the talking stopped and she could here them start to leave the room.

She watched, unseen from the next room until one by one they passed.

Adam, Hawkes, Stella, Flack, and finally Mac. After Mac passed. She walked out and grabbed and his arm and dragged him back to the conference room.

"Can we talk?" she asked sarcastically.

They both knew that she wasn't going to let him out until they talked.

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_So today is my birth day!!!! Im finally 13!!! Review for a present._

_The next chapter won't be the BIG confrontation. Not the whole "why did you"… blah blah blah._

_Nope. That won't come until later. But hopefully the next chapter will be somewhat of a heated confrontation._

_I'm just warning you so you won't be disappointed. _

_REVIEW please_


	6. Chapter 6

As always thank you for the reviews!!! Here is the next chapter. Oh and I really cut a lot out of the whole confrontation in this chapter. I need to save for the real confrontation. Oh and thank you to the people who wished me a happy birthday!!

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**Chapter 6**

They both knew that she wasn't going to let him out until they talked.

They were both silent for a moment. She knew the others were going to be looking for her.

"So FBI?" Danny asked, hoping to break the ice.

"No small talk. It didn't work out between us. I'm over it. I need to know that you can do your job with me here." she stated.

"I'll be fine." Danny answered. He was shocked that she was so blunt. He sighed. "God Lindsay, you shouldn't be the one going through this. The comments and the-"

"Don't." Lindsay cut in darkly. Her eyes darkened and her voice strained to keep control. "Don't go there. Don't pretend you give a damn, Danny. If you did, you would have stopped it. You would have been a man and set them straight."

Lindsay took a deep breath and felt the anger leave her. It was a long time ago and for the sake of the case. And very possibly her sanity. She just let it go. For now, at least.

"But you didn't. And I've repressed the whole thing. Don't bring it up."

She walked toward the door but was blocked by his hand shutting off the doorway.

"Move out of my way, Danny." She was struggling to keep her cool.

"No. You wanted to talk. So we're goin' to talk." He said. His jaw set and eyes hard.

"I've said what I needed to say."

"I haven't."

Lindsay looked at him with an incredulous look.

"What could you possibly have to say."

He took her hand. I looked into her eyes.

"I'm sorry."

That's all it took. The dam on her emotions broke. Tears welled and flowed down her face. She couldn't take it.

"I said don't." Lindsay yanked her arm away. "Sorry doesn't always fix things Danny."

She pushed passed him and walked through the door. After a few feet she stopped and quickly wiped away the tears.

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I know it was short.. But I figured I'd end it here and start everything again in the next chapter 


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks for reviews!! So nothing much is going to happen in this chapter. I'm going to introduce all of Lindsay's team and a bit more of her time with the FBI. It will be slightly long because I want to tell you guys about Lindsay's team and how they got to where they were.**

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**Chapter 6**

She angrily wiped the tears that kept coming. She hated that Danny could still make her cry. Hated that he still had that power over her. After several deep breaths and death glares at lab techs who walked by and stared at her, she got the tears under control.

She knew the team was waiting on her so she quickly wiped away all remnants that she had been crying. Her eyes were still a bit red but she figured it wasn't bad enough for people to see.

She was wrong about that. The minute she walked in the door, Derek gave her a look stating that he knew she had been crying. With her eyes she said we'll talk later.

Danny was already in the room sitting next to Stella. He looked disturbed about something.

The rest of her team was there also. Kevin Donner was the team's technology specialist. Wherever they went, he set up there equipment. Layla McKinsey was the teams unofficial profiler. She was the youngest of the team and usually had a very good judge on people's characters. She also hated being called by her last name.

The rest of the team was Eric King, the teams drug specialist and all around good guy. He was the guy you'd come to for help. Finally there was Jay Cho. He was a no non-sense man with a stoic nature that made him a perfect interrogator.

She'd hand picked everyone on her team except Layla.

She had picked Donner out of the counter-terrorism unit. Donner had worked with her on a case involving a terrorist's murder and expressed unhappiness in being there. She picked Eric King off the streets of Seattle, Washington when she was there on a case. He was a uniform cop who caught her eye after arguing with Derek. Very few uniform cops would try to argue with a FBI agent and as it turns out, he was right.

Layla was the only person she didn't find. Layla found Lindsay. Layla McKinsey is the daughter of a famous Olympic Skater, who gives generous donations to the FBI. Because of that, everyone thought that she had bought her way on the force. No one wanted to work with her. She had found Lindsay and begged her to let her prove herself.

Lindsay was infamous at the time in the FBI because of the hire of Jay Cho. So Layla figured if Lindsay hired him she might hire her. After a bit of hesitation Lindsay agreed and it turned out to be one of the best decisions she made.

The hire of Jay Cho made Lindsay an agent on the whole FBI's radar. Jay Cho was raised in Chinatown. As far as Lindsay knew he got caught up in bad things and by the time he was a teenager, he was in a gang. After the murder of his best friend he quit the gang and went through the academy.

Not one agency would hire him because of his past. The day he and Lindsay met was the day he asked the FBI to hire him. Lindsay was waiting for a meeting with her boss when she saw him. She watched him beg her boss to hire him and watched her boss flat out deny.

After Cho walked away. She walked to her boss and told him that she wanted Cho. Even after her boss told her his past. "I want him." Lindsay had said.

After much arguing Lindsay's boss said he was her responsibility and if something happened. It was her fault. She agreed. And went to find him. Cho was shocked to say the least. Even if he didn't show it. After a warning of,

"If you so much as talk to your old gang. You will be out of here faster then you can say, dumbass."

He was put on her team and to this day has kept clean. Lindsay is the only person he trusts and is loyal to her only.

Each one of her team was different but together they had one of the highest solving rates in the FBI.

They were just like the Mac, Stella, Flack, Adam, Hawkes, and Danny. Different personalities but all very close.

When Lindsay walked through the doors and looked at all of them, she was reminded of her new and old life. She walked to the front of the room, where her team was and gave quick to, the point introductions.

With the looks she was getting from everyone, Lindsay decided to make something clear,

"Alright. Before we begin, I'm going to make something clear. I'm well aware that you don't want me here. Honestly, I don't want to be here either. I hate New York. I want nothing more then to leave. But my boss wants me here. So I'm here. Me being here, is about a dead girl. It's not about you or me. It's about her. So I'm here to solve her murder and to put the person responsible behind bars. If you can't respect that, then you need to leave. Because right now, I'm staying."

Lindsay looked at the faces of Mac, Danny, Stella, Adam, Hawkes, and Flack.

Hawkes nodded and even smiled a bit. Adam then nodded. Followed by Flack, then Mac.

Stella looked at her. It wasn't a glare or an icy look. She just looked to see if she was serious.

"Ok." she said quietly.

Danny looked at everyone in the room. His gaze rested on Lindsay.

Their eyes connected and he spoke without looking away from her.

"I'm fine if you are."

Lindsay smiled. "Good."

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**Hope you liked the chapter. Remember to review!!!! No reviews, no updates.**


	8. Chapter 8

Alright here's chapter eight. We are going to get into casework now.

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Chapter 8-

"Alright, now that we got things straitened out, We'll get to the case." Lindsay announced.

The conference room was turned into something you could picture out of a gaming movie. The wall was covered in a blueish screen with the FBI emblem on it. It was electronic and cast an eerie shadow over Lindsay's face.

Lindsay picked up a clicker and turned on her professional voice. She clicked a button and a picture of a young looking girl with wavy brown hair and smiling eyes filled the screen.

Lindsay began. "As you all know this," She said pointing to the girl, "is Diana Nicolette Alexander. The 28 year old daughter of French ambassador Louis Armond Alexander. She was last scene at her home in the embassy with 2 armed guards."

"If she has 2 armed guards how did she get killed?" Flack asked.

"See now that's what nobody gets. Due to feuding among some of the French government, neither her nor her father are supposed go anywhere without their guards." Lindsay responded.

"Layla and I both questioned the guards. They both were adamant that they were at their post. Right outside her bedroom door. They said that neither of them heard anything inside that resembled her being taken against her will." Cho told the room with an emotionless voice.

"That would be me." Layla raised her hand. "They showed not outward signs of dishonesty. They were genuinely worried for her."

Danny shook his head. Then he spoke.

"We were at the embassy. In her room. She's on the third level. There's now she could have jumped-"

"Was there a drain pipe? Something she could climb down? Maybe a nearby tree?" Lindsay cut him off but was looking at him intently.

"Yes, yes there was uh.. Um.." He took out a crime scene photo of outside her room. "There was a rain gutter pipe thing right beside her window. "

"How'd you know that one, boss?" Derek asked with a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

She smirked. "I was a teenager once." She turned to Mac. "Does the girl have a history of partying?"

Mac checked his records. "Underage drinking charge when 17. Looks like she has a history of sneaking into clubs and bars when she was in France."

"The girl is hardly 17 anymore. She's 28. Not exactly an age for partying." Stella cut in.

"Diana is an important political figure's daughter who was raised in a country where people couldn't understand her. She grew up way to fast. She's probably still trying to prove to herself and others that she's her own person and not just an obedient daughter." Layla concluded.

The room looked at her. Hawkes raised an eyebrow.

Lindsay chuckled. Layla blushed and mumbled. "I have a degree in psychology. This is what I do."

"No she's right. Hawkes I want you to get the ambassador into an interrogation room. I want to know just how much his daughter rebelled." Mac stated.

Hawkes nodded.

Lindsay looked at her team. "King, go with him. You have higher clearance and the ambassador will be happier if a fed is there to."

Hawkes looked at Mac who then looked at Lindsay. He raised an eyebrow.

Lindsay looked confused. Then realization dawned on her.

"I mean.. that is.. If you'd be ok with it, Hawkes." Lindsay recanted.

Hawkes smiled a bit more. "Sure man, Let's go Agent King." Hawkes nodded at the room.

King and Hawkes both started to leave. Lindsay shouted behind them

"One more thing. Do not under any circumstances… mention the word interrogate or interrogation room anywhere near the ambassador. I do not want the French on my ass about asking him questions. And do be polite. King, remember the Billionaire's son case?"

King winced. Lindsay continued. "I don't want a repeat of that."

"Yeah boss. I got it."

They both left.

"Billionaire's son's case?" Danny asked?

"Murdered Billionaire's son. King mentioned the word interrogate to the father and… well let's just say it was a long case. Turns out the father did it though." Lindsay mumbled while rereading the case notes.

"Well that wasn't very smart on your part, was it Lindsay. Letting him do that." Stella asked in a mock sweet voice.

Lindsay looked up from her case file. She was already annoyed and it was about 10 minutes into the case.

"Mature, Stella. Real mature."

Layla's green eyes focused on Stella. Lindsay could immediately tell that Layla was trying to get a read on the issue that surrounds this place.

"That's enough Layla. Don't profile them." Lindsay said softly.

"Yeah boss. Got it." Laya replied dejectedly.

"Back to the case?" Mac questioned in a commanding voice.

"Did Diana have a boyfriend?" Derek asked the room

"If she does, it doesn't say here." Danny answered.

"Did she have any friends in town?" Lindsay inquired.

Danny looked back at the notes. "Seems like one, Giselle Brown, was flown in from Paris for the weekend."

Lindsay nodded. "Mac, can you get the girl into an interrogation."

"Sure. Flack do you want to go get her?"

"Fine. I'll be back soon."

"Wait Flack come back for a minute. I meant to say this when Hakes and King were in the room." Lindsay began, "This is a high profile case. The daughter of an ambassador. As much as I hate to say this, There are no other cases in New York until this one is solved."

They all nodded. Lindsay thought of something. "Oh and Flack. To this girl, mention interrogate all you want. Scare the crap out of her."

Flack raised an eyebrow. "Will do."

* * *

Did you guys like it? I hope so because it was fun to write.

REVIEW!!!!!!!!


	9. Chapter 9

I haven't been getting as many reviews as I did in the beginning. Please remember to review.

**Chapter 9**

The rest of the day went with few problems. Aside a cold shoulder from Stella and a few snarky comments, Lindsay got along well with most of the team. It wasn't like it used to be, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Lindsay was looking for a cup of coffee, by the time 7pm rolled around. Instead of coffee, Lindsay found Danny in the break room.

He was just staring off into space. Thinking about something.

"Are you all right?" Lindsay asked awkwardly from the door. Danny's eyes snapped to her.

"I'm fine. Just thinking." He responded. She walked through the door and sat down on a sofa.

"About?" She prodded.

"Nothing." His response was curt.

"Don't lie to me." She said. Then instantly regretted her words. The last time she said that… It ended up with Danny getting slapped and Lindsay in tears running for the door with a shattered heart.

Danny remembered her words too and shifted uncomfortably.

"I meant, that you were thinking to hard to be thinking about nothing."

"It's just-" he began. But he was saved from having to tell her by Derek who stuck his head through the door.

"Lindsay, Giselle Brown is in the interrogation room. She's nervous too. Definitely hiding something." Derek informed her.

Lindsay looked from Danny to him the nodded. "Alright I'll be there in two minutes."

He nodded and glanced at Danny.

"Everything alright?" he asked suspiciously.

"We're fine." Danny answered.

He nodded and left.

"You were saying?" She tried to continue their conversation.

"Rain check. Who's interrogating the girl?"

"I am."

"Flack too?"

"If he wants. Cho will probably want to also." Lindsay said.

"Right." Danny looked unsure. "Which one is Cho?"

"Asian. The one who sounds like he has no personality." Danny nodded.

"Ok."

"Ok."

Things were awkward again. They stood there in silence for about 30 seconds.

"Well I'm going to go. I guess I'll see you later." She mumbled and walked back through the door.

She got to the interrogation rooms quickly. She felt a small amount of pride in remembering where the rooms were.

Flack was standing outside the door of the room. With Derek standing near him. They were talking and Derek had a confused look on his face. And there was no Cho.

"What'd I miss?" Lindsay asked. Interrupting the conversation.

**Flashback. 2 minutes earlier .**

Derek walked through the halls trying to find the interrogation room. He had just told Lindsay that the girl was in the room.

"Agent Reid? The interrogation room is right over here." Flack called from a hall on the right.

"Thanks." Derek said surprised. He expected that Flack would let him wander all night if he could.

"Yeah." Flack said curtly.

After a few seconds of silence after walking to the room, Flack couldn't take it anymore.

"How is she?" He asked softly.

"Who Giselle? She looks nervous and-" Derek started.

"No. Not Giselle." Flack looked almost guilty that he was asking.

Derek got a look of understanding. Then his features hardened.

"Lindsay's fine now. It was rough at first." He said begrudgingly.

Flack looked around him sadly. "Go on."

"When mine and her boss paired us together, she was cold to me. Didn't trust me, wasn't all that friendly. It wasn't me, just the idea of us as partners. She didn't want a partner. She told me over and over. It took months of being partners before she finally even told me she was from Bozeman."

"You guys seem close now." Flack noted.

Derek looked far away. "Yeah." Derek looked at him again refocusing. "I saved her life. That's why we are close now."

"What do you mean?"

"It was an old case. Girl was murdered. We questioned her boyfriend. We both thought he didn't do it. So we left. Lindsay had forgotten her phone there so she went back while I stayed at our office. After she left, One of our lab techs ran to me saying that his DNA was found on the murder weapon." Derek shook his head.

"I rushed out of the office. When I got there, Lindsay was on the ground with the kid standing over her with a gun. Right before he could, I shot. He died. Lindsay finally started to open up after that. And when she got promoted and got to choose a team. She chose me to be her partner." Derek concluded his story.

"Oh." That's all Flack could come up with.

"You guys broke her for awhile." Derek mumbled, more to himself. But Flack heard.

He looked at Derek in disbelief.

"We broke her? She destroyed our team. She betrayed Danny! Betrayed the whole lab! We trusted her! And-"

Derek was extremely confused.

"What? She didn't betray anyone. Danny was the one who-"

"What'd I miss?" Lindsay's voice sounded as she was walking toward them.

**Present**

"Well?" Lindsay asked nervously. Flack looked pissed, while Derek looked confused.

"What were you about to say?" Flack asked ignoring Lindsay. "Danny was the one who what?"

Lindsay immediately understood what had just been said. They were talking about her and Danny.

"Danny is not here. But that girl is and we need to interrogate her." She said quickly. Her voice was strained.

Flack continued to glare at Derek for answers. Derek stayed silent. Flack gave up and him and Lindsay both went into the interrogation room.

* * *

Sorry it was short.

Hope you enjoyed!!!!!!! Remember to review.

I am in the 7th grade with all AIG courses. I take Chinese on top of that. And I've begun studying for my EOG's. If I can find time to post these chapters, you can find time to review them.

REVIEW


	10. Chapter 10

Thanks for the reviews. I'm soo happy with all of the reviews I got last chapter.

I think that Lindsay's confrontation with Danny is going to come up with in the next few chapters. Special thanks to NothatRose.

* * *

Chapter 10

The first thing Lindsay noticed when she looked at the girl in the interrogation room, was the tear tracks down the girls face and her exhausted expression.

"Qu'est-ce qui continue? Pourquoi sont je ici? Avez-vous trouvé qui a tué Diana ?" She cried in French.

**(What's going on? Why am I here? Did you find who killed Diana?)**

"Lindsay, Tell me you have a translator on your team." Flack said looking at the girl.

"Qu'est-ce qui continue!?!?" the girl demanded.

**(What's going on!)**

"Nah-ah" Lindsay said slowly. "Do you speak English?" she asked Giselle.

Giselle looked at her blankly. "Parlez-vous English?" Lindsay asked unsure.

"A little. Please tell me what's going on!" Giselle responded in highly accented English.

"Ok. That's good." Lindsay said kindly. "Do you know why you're here?"

That brought on a whole new round of tears. "Diana is dead!" she cried.

"When was the last time you saw Diana?" Flack asked.

"Right before bed. We had just watched movie." She sobbed, but it was a weird sob.

'It was almost like a… guilty sob.' Lindsay noticed.

"You're lying." Lindsay stated. Flack looked over to Lindsay.

"Tell us the truth." Flack told the girl. But he looked to Lindsay with a look stating 'where are you going with this.'

"I- I not lying." the girl stuttered.

"When was the last time you saw her?" Lindsay repeated.

Giselle was silently looking down at the table.

"Don't you want to know who killed your friend?" Lindsay made eye contact with the girl. "Don't you want to know who killed Diana?"

The girl started crying again. "We snuck out!" she cried. "Diana ditched her guards. She snuck out window. I'm only in town for few more days. I wanted to party. She wanted to come with me!"

She sobbed and sobbed and repeated over and over, "C'est toute ma faute. C'est toute ma faute. C'est toute ma faute."**(It's all my fault. It's all my fault. It's all my fault.)**

Lindsay looked over at Flack. "She snuck out. That's why the guards didn't hear anything."

Flack nodded. "It was just how you said." He admitted.

"Giselle." Flack addressed the crying French girl. "Where did you go? What club?"

"I don't know! It was American club! They all the same! Big lights, loud music!" Giselle sobbed.

"What happened after you got in the club? Did Giselle meet a guy?" Lindsay asked.

Giselle got a look of disgust on her face. "Grand américain vilain! Essayé pour s'agrafer avec nous!"

"In English." Flack demanded.

"Big ugly American! Tried to hook up with us!" She hissed. "I hate America! I want to go home!"

"Ok. Can you describe this man?"

"Big ugly American! Drunk." She told them.

"That won't help much." Flack whispered to Lindsay.

"What about the club? Did you notice anything about the club that could help us?" Lindsay patiently asked.

Giselle thought a minute. "Rose. There was rose on sign." Then she asked tiredly, "Can I please go home now?"

Lindsay glanced at Flack. "There's nothing to hold her on."

Lindsay nodded. "Your free to go."

"Lindsay wait up." Flack called to Lindsay as she walked down the hall after the interrogation.

Lindsay paused and looked over to him suspiciously. "Your talking to me now? Interesting."

She knew it was immature and childish but she couldn't help it.

Flack's blue eyes hardened. "Don't flatter yourself. I have a question. Two actually."

Lindsay's look turned curious. "Well? What is it?"

"One, how did you know she was lying?"

"I don't know. The way she was crying seemed… guilty." Lindsay answered. "What's the other question?"

"What did your partner mean?" Flack looked at her face for a hint as to what it was.

He watched her face go blank. "I don't know what your talking about."

"Oh you know very well what I'm talking about. What did your partner mean about Danny." Flack said exasperated.

Lindsay stared at him. She contemplated telling him. Telling him and finally having a friend she could lean on. She contemplated spilling her guts about how wrong they were and how awful they made her feel.

She contemplated it. But she didn't do it.

"It doesn't matter now." Lindsay mumbled, "Damage is done."

She walked away from Flack. Walked away from a chance to have her friend back. Walked away from causing Danny pain and, in her eyes, justice. She walked away.

Just like she did four years ago.

* * *

**Alright that's it for this chapter!!! Hope you enjoyed. Please keep up the reviewing!! More reviews I get, the faster I will post the next chapter!!**

**REVIEW!!!!!**


	11. Chapter 11

Ok thanks for the reviews!!! Here is chapter…what chapter is this??

Here's chapter 11.. I think.

**This chapter is the long awaited confrontation between Danny and Lindsay!!!**

The first major blow out is between Stella and Lindsay, which will lead up to Danny and Lindsay.

* * *

**Chapter 11**

Don Flack was not a dumb man. He had spent enough time around both Danny and Lindsay to know when something was not right.

He had, had his suspicions from the minute Lindsay returned to New York that something was off.

But now, seeing Lindsay walk away from him, He was 100% sure that there was something more to Danny and Lindsay's breakup then what Danny had mentioned.

He just had to figure out what.

* * *

When Lindsay got back to her hotel room for the night, after Derek insisting she do so, she couldn't sleep.

She thought about her and Flack's close call. As much as she hated being blamed for the failure of Danny and her relationship, what was she supposed to do?

Yeah she could have told Flack, but what would that have done? It would have maybe saved a little bit of her friendship with Flack, but, if she was being honest… There's nothing left of her friendship.

Not for anyone. She was broken the day she left and maybe the team and her could someday rebuild that, but would it be worth it?

'_Trust is like a mirror. You can glue it back together if it gets broken, but you can still see the cracks in the reflection.' _

Lindsay thought about the day her mom told her that. It was the day after her parents had separated. It was a quote she used to live by.

Lindsay thought about Danny and her old trust in him. He was like her mirror. Maybe it would stay shattered forever, or maybe the cracks will remain.

Or maybe, just maybe, she could just buy a new mirror and teach them how not to break it.

She thought about Danny some more. Thought about how much she's given for him.

And she got mad.

So she got up, and stormed down the hall and into her car. And drove straight to the New York Crime Lab.

She battled with tears all the way to the building. Angry tears. Betrayed tears.

But the tears stopped when she reached the parking lot. She set her mouth in a thin line. Her face showed no emotion.

She walked up to the building and through the doors. She walked quietly through the halls and through the throngs of lab techs.

It was almost 10 o'clock, so Lindsay was surprised to see Stella in the break room talking quietly about the case with Danny.

"Danny, Can we talk?" Both Stella and Danny's eyes turned to her. "Alone."

"You have something to say, say it Lindsay." Stella said to her.

"This has nothing to do with you Stella. Please don't make it out to be about you." Lindsay begged tiredly.

"No. It does have something to do with me. Danny is my friend and Danny doesn't need you playing with him again."

"Danny is right here and can speak for himself." The man in question stated agitated. "Stell, I know your trying to help but this-"

"I'm not trying to help. I am trying to get you to see that you don't need her. Your better then what happened last time." Stella begged him to see it her way.

"No. I'm not." He mumbled almost inaudibly.

Stella looked at him in disbelief. Then at Lindsay.

"What did you say to him? How is after everything you've done to us, he still blames himself!" She then quickly turned to Danny. "It's not your fault she's a-"

"Stella don't. You don't understand." Danny cut her off quickly

"I'm a what?" Lindsay asked furious.

"You know what you are! I trusted you! Danny trusted you! And you go off and sleep with another man, while Danny was grieving over the loss of the Reuben Sandoval." She yelled.

Danny winced at the name. But Stella continued.

"You had us all fooled! You had us, me, Danny believing you were a sweet country girl. But your not, are you? Your just tramp who happened to be a good CSI."

"Stella-"

"I'm not finished." She continued yelling. "Your nothing more then a good for nothing whore, that uses your sob story about your dead friends for sympathy points! You-"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Lindsay screamed shocking everyone in the room, including herself. "DON'T YOU DARE BRING MY FRIENDS INTO THIS!"

Lindsay was silent for a minute. She took a deep breath and continued quietly. "We used to be friends, Stella. I used to look up to you as my sister. I trusted you. But you just crossed a line."

Stella shook her curls at Lindsay. "Well , you crossed a line the day you cheated on Danny."

Lindsay chuckled a cold laugh. "You don't know anything Stella."

"I know enough."

"No." Lindsay said with the most serious voice she'd ever used. "You don't."

Stella shook her head and walked away and back down through the many halls.

None of them realized Stella had left her kit in the room.

Lindsay sighed and turned to Danny.

"She went to far." Danny mumbled.

"Don't. You know what, this was a bad idea. I'm going to go." Lindsay sighed.

She got up to leave.

"No. Lindsay please don't. We ah…. We need to talk about some things."

She reluctantly nodded and sat down.

"I don't even know where to begin anymore." Danny breathed. "It's funny because I've thought about this conversation thousands of times. What I would say. How I would say it. But actually doing it. You have no idea how hard this is for me."

That got Lindsay's attention.

"You?" she asked in disbelief, "How hard this is for you? And you don't think it's hard for me? I come here after four years of not speaking to any of you! I come here and people are as hostile to me as the day I left this place! And you think its hard for you?"

"Lindsay come on. I didn't mean It like that-"

"These people, the ones who call me slut and whore. They were my friends too! My family! And now they hate me! Tell me how this is hard for you!" She ranted.

"They don't hate you. Never did. They miss you. Mac still sometimes look to your old seat when he's passing out assignments."

"They sure act like they miss me." She retorted sarcastically.

"I missed you to." he said quietly.

"Don't even go there Danny."

"See you keep telling me the things I can't say! Don't say this and don't do that! Well you know what Lindsay? I'm gonna say it! I missed you! I'm sorry for putting you through this! I'm sorry for everything!" he shouted. His blue eyes were wild.

"Your sorry? For what? Sleeping with that woman? For lying about it? Or how about for letting me take the blame?"

"All of it!" He cried exasperated "God Lindsay, all of it ok! I lied to you, betrayed you! Ruined the only thing I had ever done right! I am sorry about what Stella said, and how cold Mac is to you. And how Flack can hardly be in the same room! I'm sorry! What else do you want me to say?"

"How about why? Why did you sleep with Rikki? I had tried so hard to be there for you! Why her? What did I do wrong?" she was getting choked up.

"Nothing! That was the point! You are perfect! Everything about you is perfect! I just wanted someone who was just as screwed up as I was. Rikki had just lost her only kid. And it was my fault. I felt… I don't know! I just don't know!"

"You lied about it." she said as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Danny hung his head. "I did. And I was wrong. I haven't talked to her since the day you left. And I only slept with her that one time."

"Is that supposed to make it better Danny?" she cried.

"No. Nothing could ever make that better. I'm sorry Lindsay. So, so sorry." His eyes were also filled with tears.

It was silent for a few seconds.

"Where do we go from here?" Lindsay asked quietly.

"I don't know." He said equally as quiet.

Lindsay nodded. She slowly wiped away the tears that kept coming and stood up.

She walked towards the door.

"Can I ask you something?" Danny voice stopped her.

She stood silently near the door without facing him.

"Why did you let the believe it was you who cheated?" He asked her.

She was quiet for a moment.

"I don't know. I guess… There was a time when I would have done anything for you. I guess that meant losing everything."

She still stood there with her back to him.

"Now can I ask you something?" She asked. "Why did you let me?"

He had no answer for that.

"That's what I thought." She started walking again and was soon out the door and got lost in the crowds of techs, leaving Danny there in the room alone.

Neither noticed Stella on the other side of the door walking back to get her kit that she left.

She had heard the whole thing and silently sunk down the wall she was leaning on until she was sitting on the floor.

Tears flowed down her cheeks as she watched Lindsay walk away.

"What have I done?" she cried to no one.

* * *

_I am going to go more into the DaLindsay past in the next few chapters and going to spread the confrentations out. _

_I really hope you liked that!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

_Please review and tell me what you think!!_


	12. Chapter 12

Alrighty, Thanks so much for the reviews as always!! I really hope you enjoyed the last chapter.

This chap will have Stella and Lindsay talk.

Oh and, I REACHED 100 REVIEWS!!!!! THANKS SOO MUCH!!! LET'S TRY FOR 150 NOW

**Chapter 12**

When Lindsay got back to her hotel room, she sat down and she cried. Cried like she hadn't cried since her friends were killed. She cried for everything she once was with Danny. Cried for the loss of friendship with Stella and the team. She cried and cried.

She was interrupted in her crying fest by a knocking on her door. She made no moves to clear the tears or make herself look presentable when she opened the door.

Standing on the other side of the door, was Stella Bonesara.

"God What?!?!" Lindsay cried, "What do you want?!? Did you forget to call me a slut? I get it okay! Just leave me alone!" Lindsay was crying again.

"How could you not tell me?" Stella asked in a soft voice. She was crying too. "How could you let me hate you?"

"Lindsay looked at her through blurry brown eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"How could you not tell me Danny slept with Rikki? Lindsay, I spent the last 4 years hating you! How could you not tell me?"

Lindsay broke down. She sobbed.

"Lindsay?" Stella asked worried. "Are you ok?"

"Do I look ok?" Lindsay snapped. "Look at me. I'm a wreck. My head is throbbing. My eyes are on fire and I look like I haven't slept in years!"

Stella was nervously shifting from one foot to the other. "Lindsay, why? I could have helped you. I could have-"

"What do you want me to say?" Lindsay asked. "I'm stupid. I'm an idiot. I always fall for the wrong guy. Then even after it happens I cover it up! For him! The man who broke my heart and cheated on me! And even now after all these years I can't help it! I keep him happy. I make sure that he still has his friends!"

Lindsay was yelling. More to herself then Stella.

"He hasn't been happy in along time. Four years to be exact." Stella mumbled quietly. Then as an after thought she said, "I'm going to kill him. I going to kill that son of a bitch!"

Lindsay chuckled a sad chuckle. "What good would that do?"

"It would make me feel better." Stella said.

"Oh yeah. Because the _only_ important thing is making _you_ feel better." Lindsay said coldly.

"I didn't mean that. I'm here trying to apologize." Stella tried to get her to see.

Lindsay was silent.

"Really?" she sighed. "Stella, I don't know what to say anymore. I thought that coming here… I don't know, I thought it would give me closure. But it's not. You don't understand what happened between me and Danny. You come here, and try to apologize… And what? Do you think that the last few years are gone? Do you think we can pick up where we left off? Because I can't do that. I can't forget what ya'll said to me."

Stella was silently crying.

"I guess… I guess what I'm saying is, What's done is done. You can't apologize and expect everything to go back to normal." Lindsay finished.

"I know. I know Lindsay. I know that nothing I say is going to fix this. But I want my friend back. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She begged.

"Did you not here what I just said? I can't forget-"

"I'm not asking you to forget! I'm just asking for you to try to… forgive me." Stella exclaimed.

Lindsay looked down on the ground. She thought about it.

"It'll be hard." Lindsay sighed. "But I could try."

Stella smiled. "Thank you. I really am going to kill Danny."

Lindsay laughed, still a bit uncomfortable. "I'll take care of him."

**Alright so next chapter will focus on the case. Maybe I'll get some Flack in their too. I have no idea what I'm writing until I'm done half the time so I have no idea what will be in the next chapter. and I know that this chapter was short, but I'm writing this in the car, and my battery is about to die. So the next cahpter will be longer then usual.**

**As Always,**

** REVIEW!!!! **

**Thanks!!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Ok here is the first flashback. Starting now I'll have the flashbacks to sort of, guide you to the ultimate break up scene. And what happened in between.**

Chapter 13

The New York sun shone brightly in the morning. Lindsay had forgotten what it was like to wake up to horns and the smell of New York City.

Lindsay wasn't expected to be back in the Crime lab until another hour. She was laying in the hotel bed thinking about the past few days. Then she moved on from that and started to drift into dangerous territory.

* * *

_Four years ago--_

_A younger Lindsay Monroe was walking through the halls of the Crime Lab._

"_Stella?" She asked when she saw the Greek detective hunched over a microscope. "Have you seen Danny? I can't find him and he won't answer my calls."_

"_Sorry Linds. I have no idea. He might be out in the field." She replied friendlily._

"_Yeah. I guess." Lindsay said troubled. "He usually tells me when he goes out though."_

"_Lindsay, I got a dead teenager who's case needs to be solved. I need to get back to work. Try Flack. He probably knows." Stella said apologetically. _

"_Oh yeah. Sorry, Stell. Hey I'm free you need help with the case?" Lindsay tried to distract herself._

"_Sure, Why not. I have a shirt that needs to be processed. Can you do that?" _

"_Yes. I'll get to work." Lindsay couldn't seem to shake the feeling that something was off._

* * *

Present time-

Lindsay was snapped out of the memory by the sound of her phone ringing.

"Monroe." She answered it on the second ring.

"Hey Lindsay. We finally got a hold of the Ambassador. It took forever, But he refused to see anyone." King's voice was clear.

"Have you interviewed him?" Lindsay impatiently asked.

"No. Sorry boss. Not yet." King's voice sounded nervous.

"It's 8 am now. Schedule a interrogation room for 6pm tonight. After that, come back to the Lab with Hawkes." She commanded.

"You got it." King hung up.

Lindsay threw her phone down on the bed and finally got up to start the day.

When she got back to the Crime Lab, Derek was waiting for her with a cup of coffee.

"Status report?" Lindsay had always felt weird having to ask that. It sounded so professional and military.

"I was up late looking for a club with the rose on the sign, like you asked.-" Derek started.

"Kiss ass." Lindsay laughed.

"Do you want what I got or not?" He said in a pretend annoyed tone.

"Lay it on me."

"Well, that was a bust. No clubs in New York have a rose on the sign." Derek paused.

"So she was lying?" Lindsay groaned.

"Not exactly. I did however find a club with a lily on the sign. The victim's friend was French. She probably got her English mixed up." He said.

"Good. Can you take Layla and one of the New York detectives with you to the club? See if anyone remembers seeing either girl."

"On it." Derek walked away to find Layla and someone else to go with him.

Lindsay walked to the conference room where the case was at.

"Lindsay, wait up." Stella jogged to catch her.

Lindsay and Stella were on better terms since ending their conversation the night before. Lindsay was still guarded and a bit uncomfortable around her, but it was getting better.

"What do you need Stella?" Lindsay asked.

"Can you walk and talk?" She asked.

"Give me a stick of gum to chew and I can do all three at once." Lindsay smiled.

Stella chuckled. "Don't have gum on me. Anyway, I got a call from a tip line that we set up for Diana."

"And?"

"According to the tipster, he remembers seeing her and her friend walking with some guys through Central Park."

"How does he know it was them?" Lindsay asked suspiciously.

"I asked him that. He said he remembers hearing a heavy French accent when the girls were talking."

"Bring him in for questioning."

"One step ahead of you. He's in room 4." Stella smirked.

Lindsay narrowed her eyes playfully. "Good. Question him. I'm going to go see if Danny has anything."

Stella's smile faded and her face was curled in disgust. "I haven't spoken to him yet. As far as I know he just got here."

Lindsay stopped walking and turned serious.

"And your not going to speak to him. Stella, I can handle it. Don't get involved in that."

Stella reluctantly nodded. "The time will come where everyone finds out Lindsay. Then he will get what he deserves. I need to make sure of it. You have no idea how terrible I feel and it's his fault."

Neither noticed Flack exiting the room they were stopped by. Listening in on some of the conversation.

"I took the blame. My fault. _Don't get involved. _And you confronting him will not change anything Stella. Between us or me and Danny." She stated a bit coldly.

The sudden tension was clear. Stella was very aware that things were not good between her and Lindsay and just because of last night. Doesn't mean things changed. Stella didn't want to upset Lindsay for fear of ruining their healing process.

"I got to go. I'll go interrogate the tipster. See you later." Stella mumbled.

Lindsay nodded stiffly. "I'm going to talk to Danny."

They both went their separate ways.

Flack stood there with a raged look on his face. The subtle clues of the past few days were becoming clear. The unanswered questions and the guilty looks were all becoming blindingly obvious.

He needed to find and talk to Danny. Or kill him. Flack wasn't sure what he'd do yet.

But there was going to be hell to pay.

* * *

_**Ok hope you enjoyed that chapter. The next chapter will focus on Danny and Lindsay and Flack. Possibly Mac too.**_

_**REVIEW!!!!! Please remember too. **_


	14. Chapter 14

First of all. Thank you for the reviews.

Now. I would like to propose a challenge to those who love you tube. I would like to know if there is anyone out this who would like to make a trailer for my story.

You can private message me or accept the challenge in review form. You can get more details if you private message me or ask for them.

* * *

Chapter 14-

Danny was in the locker room. Lindsay had scanned the room for her old locker, almost automatically.

Danny had caught her looking for it. "It's still there."

Lindsay jumped when she heard him. "I know that. I guess I expected it to be vandalized or something." She said bitingly.

He didn't seem fazed. "It's untouched."

"What because no one wanted to be near it?" she said sarcastically.

Danny chuckled. "No. I wouldn't let them touch it." He turned somber. "Some of your old stuff is still in it. It has not been touched since the day you left."

Lindsay looked away from him. "Really?" She turned toward her locker and opened it.

"I'm surprised I still remember the combination." she said when the click that tells you it's unlocked sounded.

She opened the door and stopped. She looked at the almost empty locker. The only things that were still in it were a few pictures of her and the team. She took one photo out and looked hard at it.

It was a picture of her and Danny. They were both smiling at each other. Lindsay was giving him a triumphant look.

She smiled. "I remember when this was taken." She said quietly. "It was a week after we got back from Montana."

"I remember." He said in an equally quiet voice. "We were arguing over who'd DNA would come up on an old case. It was taken right after we found out you were right."

_5 years ago-_

"_No way. It's not Gabriel O'Brien's DNA." Lindsay said exasperated. "He was way to upset after finding out that his wife was dead."_

"_Oh come on! It has to be. Who's else could it be?" Danny said equally exasperated. "The husband was guilty for killing her. Not sad she was gone!"_

"_I don't believe that. I think it's the brother's." She said conspiratorially._

"_Nope." He responded. _

_Just then the machine beeped. Lindsay and Danny both looked at each other. _

"_The results are in. If it's the husband's DNA you have to buy me dinner." Danny smirked._

_Lindsay laughed. "And when it's the brother's you have to but me drinks at the bar."_

"_Deal." Danny figured it was a win-win situation._

_They looked at the results. _

"_Damn." Danny cursed._

"_Look's like you owe me a couple of drinks Messer." Lindsay grinned._

_Danny grinned right back. Neither noticed Stella with a camera taking a picture._

Present-

"I remember you went back on your deal and made me buy you dinner _and_ drinks." Danny grinned. Almost like he used to.

"Only because you begged me to!" Lindsay defended with a slight smile of her own.

After a minute of silence Danny asked, "Do you ever miss it?"

"Miss what?" Lindsay asked carefully.

"Us. Me, you. Together do you ever miss it?" He clarified.

After a pause Lindsay answered honestly. "Yes. But it doesn't change anything."

"I know." He replied. "You know, I sometimes wonder, what woulda happened if Ruben had never died. What woulda happened if I had never messed up."

Lindsay nodded. "I do too."

"And?"

She shrugged. "I have no idea."

He laughed. Shortly followed by her laughing.

"I miss ya. Ya know that right?" Danny asked.

Lindsay sighed. "Danny-"

Both of their pagers went off. 'Conference room' is what it said.

Danny chuckled. "Rain check, Montana?" He didn't mean to use her old nick name. It just slipped out.

Lindsay took an intake of breath.

"I'm sorry." Danny back tracked quickly, "I didn't mean to-"

"No." She said. "I just…I haven't been called that in awhile."

"Well then." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "We should get going."

Danny started to make his way to the door.

"I don't mind." Lindsay said softly. "I kind of missed being called that."

Danny smiled. "Well then, Montana, let's go."

They both walked silently down to the Conference room where all but Flack were in waiting for Stella to say why she called everyone.

Derek looked suspicious at Danny when he walked through the doors with Lindsay.

"Detective Boneasara, Me and Layla were about to go down and look for witnesses. Can this wait?" Derek complained.

"This will help you with your look." Stella responded slightly annoyed.

"What's going on Stell?" Hawkes asked.

"Well I interviewed the tipster and-" She started, but was cut off by Flack bursting in the room with a enraged look on his face.

"Flack what the-" Mac began.

But was stopped by Flack yanking Danny out of his seat and shoving him up against the wall.

"What did you do!" Flack yelled. "What the hell did you do?"

"Flack I-" Danny was startled.

"TELL ME WHY YOU AND LINDSAY BROKE UP! TELL ME WHY SHE LEFT!" He yelled.

* * *

Ok I know I gave you a bit of a cliff hanger there. Wow. That was fun to write.

You got your Danny/ Lindsay quick scene, some Flack. Hope you enjoyed.

Anyway, I f you want to accept my challenge, PM me or just somehow let me know.

REVIEW


	15. Sorry

Hey guys. I am so sorry to say that my lap crashed. With the next 5 chapters of my story on it. Luckily I was able to save the chapters. However, My actual computer is at Dell where it is being fixed.

But for the next week or two, no updates. I'm so sorry.

To try and make it up, I would like to know if any of you would like to request ONE- SHOT ideas. I will write those to keep you guys happy. It can be in the same universe? I don't know if that's the right word but anyway, If there are scenes that you would like me to write that have to do with Lindsay's past or while she was in the FBI I am willing to do that.

I am also open to writing new stories that have nothing to do with the one I have up. It needs to be one-shots though.

Just let me know, and I will try to make it up.

Let me warn you now though. I will not write sex scenes, nor will I write anything that will spoil future chapters of my story.

I'll be back as soon as I can. Don't give up on me.


	16. Chapter 16

_Previously-_

_"Flack what the-" Mac began._

_But was stopped by Flack yanking Danny out of his seat and shoving him up against the wall. _

_"What did you do!" Flack yelled. "What the hell did you do?"_

_"Flack I-" Danny was startled._

_"TELL ME WHY YOU AND LINDSAY BROKE UP! TELL ME WHY SHE LEFT!" He yelled._

* * *

The room was silent. All eyes were now on Danny and Flack.

"Well?" Flack demanded. "Tell us what happened."

Danny was silent.

"Flack what's going on?" Mac asked. "What are you-"

"Danny has been keeping secrets. I want to know what they are." Flack hissed.

"Flack you can't just walk in here and shove people up against a wall!" Lindsay cried panicked.

"I'm not going to ask you again! WHAT DID YOU-"

"I slept with Rikki!" Danny finally shouted, cutting him off. "It was me. Not Lindsay."

Flack let go of him and staggered backwards away from him.

"You what?" Mac said. His tone was devoid of any emotion.

"It was a mistake. Ruben's mother was hurting, I was hurting. I wasn't thinking right, and we-"

Flack suddenly lunged at Danny.

"Derek!" Lindsay shouted.

Derek sprang forward and yanked Flack back. It took Derek, Mac and Cho to haul Flack back into his seat, but you could tell that Mac was doing it half heartedly.

"How could you? Lindsay wasn't just your girlfriend! She was my friend to! I thought of her as a sister and you had me believe-" Flack couldn't go on.

_4 years ago-_

"_Damn it." Lindsay cursed. Danny still wasn't picking up his phone._

_Mac was still on her ass as to where he was. She growled. And tried one more time._

"_What do you want Lindsay." Danny's voice snapped at her. Lindsay was taken a back. He never used that tone with her._

"_Did you forget that you have a job, Danny? I covered for you the other day. Mac is pissed that you haven't checked in. I can't cover for you that much longer." Lindsay snapped right back._

"_Maybe if you weren't such the psycho girlfriend calling me every 5 minutes. I would be there." He said coldly into the phone._

_Lindsay mouth opened in shock. _

"_Psycho girlfriend? Who the hell do you think you are, Daniel Messer! I am not only your partner, but I am your friend. You can not talk to me like that!" Lindsay ranted. "And furthermore, this is not just your job on the line. My job too. Mac is not stupid. He knows something is not right. He knows I'm covering for you and he's not happy about it!"_

_Danny sighed into the phone. "Your right Montana, I'm sorry. It's just been a hard month."_

_Her voice softened a bit too. "Danny maybe you should take some time off. Ever since the Sandoval case, you haven't been acting like yourself."_

"_And should I be?" He said, his tone was suddenly hard and accusing. "A good child died because of a stray bullet. But the world goes on, right? It doesn't stop because of one kid dying before his time."_

_His voice was suddenly ragged. Like he was trying not to cry._

"_Of course it matters. Every case we have, every victim matters. We caught Ruben Sandoval's killer. It was an accident. But there's nothing we can do for him now."_

"_Danny, who's that?" A voice on Danny's side of the line breezed through. "Come back to bed."_

"_Danny, that better be you mother." Lindsay forced out in horror._

"_I got to go." He said, his voice straining. _

"_Oh my God." Lindsay said in shock. "You bastard."_

_Danny hung up the phone. Leaving Lindsay standing in shock on the side walk, in the middle of New York City._

Present-

"Oh God." Hawkes mumbled turning to Lindsay. "Oh god, if I had known. I would never have-"

"Save it." Lindsay told him. "I don't want your apologies."

Lindsay looked around the room and with a detached voice continued, "Any of them. What's done, is done."

"You don't looked shocked." Flack suddenly said with his face turned to Stella. "Why don't you looked shocked?"

It was true. Stella looked appalled and disgusted, but she didn't look shocked.

"I… I found out." Stella mumbled. Danny looked surprised at that.

"What's happened?" Flack asked to no one. "What's happened to us? No one is telling anyone about anything anymore." He chuckled and left the room.

The room was silent and tense. Everyone was glaring at Danny.

Danny sighed. "I'm sorry." He walked out of the room.

After a few minutes, no one in the room had said anything. Lindsay knew that Danny would be hurting right now. It still amazed her, that even everything, she still couldn't help but go check on him.

"I'll be right back." She said quietly.

* * *

_**I'M BACK! MY COMPUTER IS BACK AND VIRUS FREE**_

_**So hope you liked how everyone find out. Next chapter will be more Lindsay and Danny.**_

_**As always, **_

_**REVIEW. **_


	17. Chapter 17

_4 years ago-_

_It took almost an hour for Lindsay to start to feel something. She had been standing on the sidewalk about a block from the Crime Lab for a half an hour before she finally registered what was going on. She numbly had sat down on a bench and that's it. She just sat there, unfeeling, cut off from the world. She didn't cry. Didn't curse him or love in general. She just sat there._

_Until now. Now she was feeling something. Pain. Betrayal. And above all, anger. Consuming anger that makes you want to scream._

_She ran almost all the way to his apartment. Up the stairs, and down the hall. She stopped at the door. She couldn't hear anything. She didn't know if he was home. If he was with her. _

_She barged through the door to find him sitting on the couch. Alone. With his head in his hands._

"_Where is she?" She choked out._

"_I sent her home." At least he wasn't trying to deny it. It would be easier if he doesn't deny it._

"_Who?" She asked with closed eyes. The tears were finally starting to build up. The gravity of the situation was sinking in._

"_Does it matter?" He asked tiredly. She took the time to notice that he didn't look good. Tired and haggard. Not the Danny she knows._

"_Yes. To me it does." She said. Her voice was stronger then she felt._

"_Rikki." With that name. Her eyes snapped open. The tears were brimming._

"_The mother?" She said in shock. But she wasn't really all that surprised. Danny would not destroy everything for some young girl off the street._

_He nodded. _

"_How long?" _

_He sighed. "Lindsay don't-"_

"_How long!" She raised her voice. The tears started to over flow. One at first. Then followed by another._

"_The day after Ruben died." _

"_Ok then." She said calmly, despite the tears still racing down her face. She started to walk back to the door._

"_Lindsay wait! I love you." He said getting off the couch to grab her arm._

_She turned back and slapped him. Hard. He dropped her arm and looked at her in surprise._

"_Don't lie to me." She snarled. And walked out the door. The tears never stopping._

* * *

Present-

"I thought I'd find you here." Lindsay said. As she took a seat next to Danny. He was sitting on the stone steps in front of the building.

He didn't look at her. Just stared at the traffic rushing by.

"You told Stella." He said. It wasn't a question.

"No. I didn't. She over heard us talking." Lindsay responded. She wasn't looking at Danny either.

"They hate me now." Once again, not a question.

"Welcome to my world." She smiled humorlessly. "Can you blame them?" She repeated the words Mac had said.

"No. I guess I can't." He smiled. "Do you?" He turned to Lindsay. She did the same to Danny.

"Do I hate you?" She asked to clarify. He nodded. "I thought I did. For a long time."

"I screwed up. I know that. But it's still hard to see your friends look at you like that."

They both turned away from each other, looking at the traffic.

"Don't I know I know it." She chuckled.

"I know you don't want to hear it. And that I've told you before, but I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything I did. And didn't do." He referenced him not telling.

"I know Danny. I know." She smiled a bit.

"Do you think you could uh… you know… forgive me?" He said. Still not looking at her.

"Why would I do that." She smiled.

He chuckled. "That's a very good question."

She turned serious. "I don't know if I can. How do we get past the fact, that I know you cheated on me."

"With me promising that I would never hurt you like that again?" He joked.

Lindsay laughed. It was interesting to her that they could make light of the situation they were in.

She sobered up. "It hurts to want everything. And nothing at the same time."

She put her head on his shoulder. "I know, Linds. But you know that I'm not going to stop trying to prove that you can trust me."

She smiled. And they sat there for a while. Her head on his shoulder.

Things were not fixed. Far from it. She was not going to put her self out there to get hurt again. They both knew that.

But for those minutes on the steps of building. They were happy with where they were at. Not together. Not friends. But finally at an understanding.

And for now, that was good enough.

* * *

**Ok. I hope that you enjoyed that chapter. I was in a heart warming mood rather then angst for this chapter.**

**Remember to review. Make a child's day.**


	18. Chapter 18

They both sat on the step for a little while. Not speaking. Just sitting there. After awhile, Lindsay became aware of the fact that they needed to get back to the case.

"Are you ready to go back in?" She whispered. Her head was still on his shoulder.

"No. But we need to, don't we?" he responded, matching her volume.

Neither was looking at each other. While Lindsay's head was on his shoulder, Danny was sitting perfectly straight. He was relaxed though, perfectly at ease with Lindsay.

"Yeah we do. If I know Derek, he'll send a SWAT team after me, if I'm gone to long." She laughed.

He didn't respond. He seemed stiffer, like he was trying to hold something in. Lindsay sensed this, and picked her head up to look at him.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Is there something going on between you too?" he eventually asked awkwardly.

She looked confused for a moment. "Who? Me and Derek?" After realizing that, that was what Danny was talking about, Lindsay laughed. "No. God no. Absolutely not. He would drive me insane." She laughed some more.

"Why?" Danny was still awfully uncomfortable, but he seemed less tense.

"We are way to much alike. We'd kill each other." At Danny's skeptical look she added without thinking, "I need somebody who balances me out. Like you do."

She froze when she said that.

"Did." She corrected before he could say anything, "Did." she repeated again.

"Yeah. Did. Did balance you out." He played along with her. Slightly uncomfortable, but with a small smirk playing at the corners of his life.

She nodded. The atmosphere was suddenly tense. At least on her part it was.

"We need to go back inside. Now." She quickly stated. Then tensely smiled at him and stood up to walk away. She took one more look at the traffic and walked away without Danny.

"Well alright then." Danny mumbled sarcastically, looking at the retreating figure of Lindsay. He had to run to catch up.

* * *

While Danny and Lindsay were talking, Flack was busy pacing back and forth in his office.

"How could this happen? How could Danny-" Flack was mumbling the same thing over and over again. "How could Lindsay? How did this happen? Ugh, I have a headache."

Flack collapsed into his chair. He looked over to a picture of him and a smiling brunette girl arm and arm. Both were in work clothes and her gun was slightly showing.

The bottom of the picture read. **'Forever missed. February 9, 1981- May 14, 2009. I love you.'** Written by Flack.

"What would you do to fix this?" He sighed. He could almost hear her voice responding with a sarcastic, '_Don't ask me. This is your problem, buddy. She's your friend.'_

Flack unintentionally smiled a bit. But quickly remember his problem and the smile fell off of his face.

"Are you mad at me?" a voiced asked quietly from the door. Flack looked up to see Stella leaning on the door frame. She walked in the door to stand in front of Flack.

"Why would I be? It's not your fault." He replied.

Stella sighed. "I think we both know that this is a lot of people's faults. Including mine. And yours."

Flack felt anger bubble up. "I know that this is my fault! I was there, I remember things I said to her. But what was I supposed to think? She basically told us that she was the one who-" Flack stopped. He all the sudden looked startled. "Ah hell." He mumbled.

Stella chuckled humorlessly. "She never told us she slept with someone else. We assumed."

____

* * *

_4 years ago-_

_Stella and Flack walked through the conference room doors together, chattering about absolutely nothing._

_Stella stopped. "Is Lindsay ok?" She nodded over to Lindsay's slumped form on the table. She, so far, was the only one in the room. She looked exhausted._

"_Linds, are you ok?" Flack called out to her. Lindsay jumped at sat up straight and forced out a smile._

"_I'm fine. Just didn't get a lot of sleep last night." She said in a false cheery voice, that sounded fake to her own ears._

_Flack smirked. "Did Danny boy keep you up all night?" Flack watched her face crumple._

"_Something like that." She forced out._

"_Linds. Seriously, what's wrong." Stella was beginning to get a bit nervous._

_Lindsay was saved from answering with the arrival of Mac and Danny. They both watched Danny look anywhere but her. And they watched as Lindsay stared at the table._

"_What's going on?" Stella asked looking back and forth from Danny to Lindsay._

"_Nothing." They both answered. Danny looked at Lindsay, who in turn, avoided his eyes._

_Mac sighed. "I told you to, to keep it out of the office. If you to can't leave your couple issues at home-"_

"_There are no couple issues because there is no couple." Lindsay mumbled quietly._

"_What why? You two are perfect for each other!" Flack exclaimed._

"_Flack!" Stella hissed quietly. Flack looked apologetic._

"_Nothing. I just made a mistake." Lindsay said. She and Danny knew that she was referring to going out with him. _

_The others didn't._

"_Then say your sorry." Flack told her like it was obvious._

"_Not that kind of mistake. It's not that easy." Lindsay responded._

_Flack and Stella looked confused, while Mac looked like he didn't want to be having this conversation._

_Lindsay sighed. And Danny looked upset. "It's never that easy. But for the love of god, you to are an awesome couple. I mean it can't be that bad. It's not like one of you killed each other's puppy or slept with someone else." Flack stated._

_At the uncomfortable silence and Lindsay shifting in her seat, Flack's eyes shut. "Oh."_

_Both Danny and Lindsay looked hurt. Both for very different reasons. Lindsay for Danny cheating on her and Danny for Lindsay hinting at it to their friends. Though Danny knew he had no write to be upset._

"_You cheated on him? Really? Lindsay- why?" Stella asked her eyes were wide. _

_Lindsay looked confused. "Huh? No I-"_

"_You said you made a mistake. Why would you do that to him?" Flack was catching on._

"_No it wasn't-" Danny began. But he was caught off by the outraged ranting of both Flack, Stella and occasionally Mac. Lindsay just stared at all of them silently, lost in a world of hurt, anger, and confusion. Until eventually she felt overwhelmed. She stood up and glanced around the room like she was seeing it for the first time. She glared at Danny, who was silently witnessing the whole thing. She walked out of the room._

"_I don't believe this!" Stella angrily yelled._

* * *

"Damnit." Flack cursed. "She tried to tell us and I didn't- I didn't listen."

"No." They both heard a new voice at the door, "You didn't listen."

Lindsay and Danny were both at the door.


	19. Chapter 19

**Hey all! Sorry I didn't get to put an authors note in the last Chapter. It's been harder then I thought getting back to my routine. I am pleased to say that Thursday is my last day of school! Which means I have a lot of time to write.**

**Thank you to all of my reviewers. I really want to hit the 200 review mark, so please. If you like the story, review. Even if it just says good job.**

**This is mainly going to be Flack and Lindsay talking. Sadly this story can't be only about Lindsay and Danny. All characters will get something. **

* * *

**Chapter 18**

Previously-

"_Damn it." Flack cursed. "She tried to tell us. And I didn't- I didn't listen."_

"_No." They heard a new voice at the door. "You didn't."_

_Lindsay and Danny were at the door. _

The atmosphere was thick with emotion. Mostly negative emotion. Flack was staring Danny down. Danny wasn't giving in. Finally Danny relented and looked away.

"We'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about us-" Danny began.

"No don't you begin any of this us and we crap. You don't get to speak for her! Don't act all self righteous Danny." Flack glared at him.

"Can I speak to Flack for a minute?" Lindsay decided to speak for herself. "Alone." She had a quick flashback to… was it only yesterday that Mac had blatantly told her to leave him and the team.

Danny looked unsure. Stella looked almost indignant at Lindsay. But with a quick nod, she was out the door. Danny took a bit longer.

"Go. You and Stella can meet me in the conference room." she murmured to him.

"Montana-" Danny began, but stopped at the look Lindsay shot him that clearly stated 'this-is-not-the-time'. He sighed and looked over to Flack who was glaring nonstop at him.

"Fine." He followed Stella.

"What are you doing, Lindsay. You should not be civil to him. After what he did to you!" Flack demanded.

"And you called Danny the self- righteous one!" Lindsay snapped. That shut Flack right up. He sat down on his desk.

Lindsay was quietly surveying the changes in Flacks office. She noted the new lamp and a few new pictures. One picture in particular caught her eye. It was the picture that Flack was looking at earlier. Lindsay smiled a bit. But then cataloged what was at the bottom of the picture.

"Who is she?" Lindsay asked carefully.

Flack cleared his throat and looked away from her, he looked to the picture. "That's… uh that's- Angell. Jessica Angell."

"She's really pretty." she smiled.

Flack nodded sadly. "Beautiful. You should have met her. She was something else."

Lindsay nodded. She was hoping she was reading the signs wrong. But she was certain now. Whoever Jessica Angell was, she was dead.

"What happened to her?" Lindsay knew that she was being rude, but she couldn't help the curiosity.

"She died." He stated matter of fact. "She was shot. Protecting a witness for court."

"I'm sorry." she said truthfully. Just because she and Flack weren't the best of friends, did not mean that Lindsay lacked compassion or sorrow for her former friend.

"Yeah. So am I." Flack cleared his throat again, like he was trying to regain his composure. "About a lot of stuff."

"You to… were together." Lindsay ignored his last comment. But she could shoot herself for asking after witnessing the flash of pain in his eyes.

"Somethin like that." He replied shortly.

Lindsay dropped the subject. "Do you think you can work with Danny? Because if you can't… well your off the case."

"Can you do that? Take me off the case?" he asked, genuinely curious. Lindsay smirked.

"I'm FBI, Flack. I can do whatever I want."

"If you can work with him, I suppose I can." His lips curled in disgust. "But it doesn't mean I have to like it or be friendly."

"He's your friend Flack. Has been for years. Since before me. And he will be your friend for long after I'm gone." She told him seriously, alluding to the fact that after this case was solved, Lindsay was gone and Flack would still be working with Danny.

"Correction. He was my friend. He stopped being my friend the minute I found out what really happened." Flack ground out.

"You don't mean that." She smiled, a little bit grudgingly. "This will put a strain, but you guys are best friends. You'll get over it."

"And have you?" Flack shot back with narrowed eyes. "Gotten over it? Because as much as your trying, I see that your still just as angry as you were the day you left."

"I think I have a right to be a little angry." She forced out. She was starting to get a little upset herself. She was starting to fell like Flack was judging her.

"I agree. But I have a right to be angry as well. Your best friend didn't lie to you for four years about what happened with your other friend." He pointed out.

"No. My boyfriend just screwed another women and lied about it. The women was a grieving mother. And all of that happened right under my nose." She retorted hotly. She realized she was being unreasonable, and that all Flack was doing was giving his reasons for his anger, but she was not immune to the feeling that only she had the right to be angry.

"I'm not attacking you Lindsay." Flack stated calmly.

"Oh no, because you would _never_ attack me." She glared.

"Come on Lindsay. Don't turn this into a game of accusations and retorts."

Lindsay sighed and nodded. "Your right. We both know I would win anyway."

Flack smiled. "All you would have to do is pull out the cheating boyfriend card or the accusing friends and you'd win every time."

She laughed. "That I would. Now, we need to get back to the case. I swear, I've done more yelling and talking about Danny then I have the case."

Lindsay walked over to the door and beckoned Flack to do the same. But Flack stayed glued to the spot he was in.

"I loved her." Flack answered Lindsay's previous question. "Jess… I loved her. More than anything. I- I was actually getting up the courage to propose."

Lindsay watched as his eyes filled up with tears.

And she was reminded of how much has changed in the four years she had been gone.

* * *

**I figured I had to give a little nod to Angell. I was actually reminded of her as I watched Human Target. She guest stared in two episodes, as ironically, an FBI agent.**

**Hope you liked the chapter.**


	20. Chapter 20

**I am officially out of school for the summer. Next stop… 8 grade.**

* * *

Chapter 19

The walk back to the conference room was silent. Lindsay was still pondering the thoughts that had suddenly plagued her when she was talking to Flack about his girlfriend. Flack was quiet simply because he didn't know what to say.

They walked into the room side by side. Lindsay now noticed how tired everybody looked. Including her team. She noticed how Mac had bags under his eyes and the Stella's usually bouncy curls were falling. Layla's vibrant eyes were half closed and even Derek, who was always energetic looked a bit worn.

Lindsay cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. Layla's eyes snapped open and she sat up straight. Derek rolled his eyes at her. 'So eager to please' he thought.

"Alright, Stella was about to give us information when we were… interrupted." Lindsay said for lack of a better word. "Stella."

"I interviewed the tipster and got some useful information about Diana's final hours in Central park. Our victim and the vic's friend were walking through central park around 1:30 am."

"O.K so we got a time line." Flack nodded. "That's good."

"That's not good." Mac countered. "I went down and talked to Sid. He says hi by the way." Mac turned to Lindsay. "T.O.D. was around 2 am."

"Ok so that's a half hour difference? Look temperature reading isn't exact. Maybe your guy was a little off on the temp.-" Derek shrugged

"Sid's never off." Danny shook his head.

Derek looked to Lindsay. She nodded. "Sid is usually very exact."

"Ok then maybe they stayed for that half hour." He readjusted his story.

"No. the tipster said walking through. Not that they stopped." Stella argued.

"Why was he in the park?" Layla asked.

"Walking his dog. He said he came forward with the information because the vic's friend Giselle, gave him a cigarette in the park."

"Earth shattering." Danny mumbled. "He came forward because a girl gave him a cigarette."

"It's a bit of kindness in New York. I'd probably do the same." Lindsay said.

"Did he give a description of the men the girls were with?" Flack asked.

"Yes but nothing specific. Both were tall with dark hair. American. 'It was dark' were his words."

"Of course it was." Derek mumble tiredly. "We get that all the time."

"Us too." Stella challenged him. "We get everything that you get. With less funding."

"Oh for the love of God." Lindsay groaned. "I feel like I'm back in the 5th grade. Are you two going to bust out in song? '_Anything You Can Do, I can Do Better' _? Come on!"

She got up out of her chair. "Derek come with me. You and I are going to find other possible witnesses." She looked around her eyes settling on Layla, "And can you tell me where the hell King is with my Ambassador!"

"On it right away, boss." Layla mumbled whipping out her cell phone.

"Mac, can you choose someone to go with me and Derek?" Lindsay asked.

"Danny can go." Mac said without much thought.

"Ok then." Danny muttered quietly.

"Oh and Lindsay? I got a call from Tobias. He wants you to call him when you get the chance." Mac said as they were about to leave.

That stopped Lindsay in her tracks. "When did you have time to take a call from my boss? Why would he even call _you_? No offense, Mac." She backtracked sheepishly.

"We're old friends." He replied. Her eyes widened. As realization dawned on her

"It was you. That's how I got the job offer. You."

Mac smiled a bit. "You guys need to go."

"Yeah right." She said. "This is not over, Mac. We need to talk."

"Later." Derek cut in. "We can deal with your issues later, Linds. Right now we need to go."

* * *

_Sorry to stop right there. I know it was a bad place to end. And I'm sorry for skipping my updating days. I usually try to update Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, But I'm really busy since I just got out of school._

_I'll update soon._

_And I'm also sensing another chapter between DannyLindsay. Only this one won't be as cheery. Some issues are going to come out. And some arguments are going to take place._

_**But that will happen if I get reviews. **_


	21. Chapter 21

**Ok I'm sorry I haven't been updating as much as I used to. I have been so busy. I'm trying to work out an application for a magnet that focuses on children who want to go into the medical field. So I've been stressing on that and getting my schedule for the summer ready.**

**I'm babbling so I'm just going to get on with the story. This chapter will focus on Mac, in the flashback at least. Then Derek and Danny get a scene together.**

* * *

Chapter 20-

_4 years ago-_

_A month went by with rude comments and harsh words to Lindsay. She heard them all, but she didn't really process them. What she had processed was the fact that Danny hadn't said a thing in her defense. Nor had she said a thing in her defense. _

_Mac had known from the start that something wasn't right with the situation. He had known Danny for a long time. He knew the young New Yorker better then Danny knew himself and he knew that neither were being honest. He just didn't know what they were lying about. He thought it might have been the circumstances leading up to the affair. He figured that's why Danny had been guilty lately. Maybe he had said something that pushed Lindsay over the edge._

_With that being said, he didn't participate in the hazing of Lindsay. That didn't make him innocent though. He had been harsh with her on cases, usually giving her the worst jobs. That stopped the day he watched Lindsay break down and cry in her office after a particularly hurtful comment from Stella. After witnessing that, he knew that she couldn't stay there. _

_Which led him to biting back his pride and his knowledge how much his team would suffer professionally for this. He picked up the phone and called in a favor._

"_This is detective Taylor from the New York Police department. I would like to speak to FBI Director Tobias Garrett."_

_After a brief fight with the receptionist over the calling of the director while he was in a meeting., she patched him through._

"_Hello Mac. I haven't heard from you since the Rook case. And that was nearly 8 years ago. What can I do for you?"_

"_Hello Tobias. I have a favor to ask. Well it's more like a proposition." He responded reluctantly._

"_Well what is it?" he asked pleasantly, but also impatiently._

"_I have an investigator from Bozeman here. I'd like for you to offer her a job."_

"_A job? Mac this is not the career center. You can't just phone me and order me to give a job at the FBI to some random detective." He told Mac disbelieving. _

"_I'm asking for a personal favor. She is a really good CSI. She would make you proud." Mac almost begged._

"_What's her name?" He relented._

"_Detective Monroe. Lindsay Monroe."_

_The line was silent for a minute. "Lindsay Monroe. The girl who survived her friends massacre?"_

"_Your familiar with her case?"_

"_I am. The FBI was called in for a bit of time. I remember her." _

"_Will you take her?"_

_Mac could here a sigh on the other end. "Let me take a look at her case work. If I might ask, why do you want to get rid of her?" _

_Mac didn't know how to phrase the problem without hurting Lindsay's chances of getting a job there. "She had a personal issue with one of my other investigators. It did not affect her cases at all, but I can tell… she can't stay here."_

"_Alright Mac. I'll see what I can do. I'll call you when I know for sure."_

"_Thank you Tobias. You won't regret it."_

* * *

Lindsay, Danny, and Flack all piled into the FBI issued suburban. They were all talking about the case and how things didn't add up. Once they were all strapped in, with Derek and Danny in the front and Lindsay in the back, much to the chagrin of Lindsay, who preferred to drive, they all were on the road on their way too the 'Lily Pond Nightclub'.

Lindsay pulled out her cell phone. "I'm calling Tobias. So watch what you say."

"Who's Tobias?" Danny already knew he was her boss, but he wanted a little bit more info on who is now involved in Lindsay's life.

"He's our boss, down in DC." Derek answered for her.

"You work in DC?" Danny smiled a bit. He figured that Lindsay would go into a more country or less populated place.

"FBI head quarters is in DC. Tobias Garrett is head of the FBI. He took a special interest in me. I guess now I know why." Lindsay muttered while hitting speed dial.

Danny stared back at her. "You have the director of the FBI on speed dial?"

She smirked. "It comes in handy once in awhile." Then she straightened up and made the motion to be quiet.

"You wanted me to call you, sir?" She began.

"It's not polite to eavesdrop." Derek said to Danny quietly, effectively snapping Danny's attention away from Lindsay onto him.

"I get the feeling you don't like me." Danny ignored Derek's previous comment.

Derek chuckled. "Gee I wonder why. You just ruined my partner's life."

Danny was about to respond, but Lindsay's voice cut him off.

"I got it, sir. I'll call you with more updates soon." She snapped the phone shut. And turned her attention back to the boys. "What are you talking about up there?"

Derek looked at Danny and raised his eyebrows. Danny answered, "Nothing. Just baseball stats."

She didn't look convinced, but she didn't push it. "Alright."

They arrived at the club within 20 minutes. It wasn't busy, just a few customers with drinks in hand looking curiously over at the cops.

The bartender of the clubs didn't look surprised to see them. "Who died? And am I a suspect?"

Lindsay put on a charming smile. "I'm FBI agent Lindsay Monroe this is my partner Agent Derek Reid and my former partner NYPD detective Danny Messer. We're here to ask you a few questions about the murder of Diana Alexander."

"Who?" The bartender was obviously charmed by Lindsay by the way he was looking at her and her body. Danny had to force himself to not snap 'eyes to her face'.

"She and her friend were here last night." Derek flashed a picture of the two girls.

"Oh the French Girls." He nodded in appreciation. "They were hot. Especially her." He pointed to Diana.

"Yeah well that 'hot, French girl' was murdered the other night. So if you could help us out, that'd be great." Danny hinted.

"Sure. It's a shame, she had a body to die for." He shook his head. "What do you need to know?"

"She and her friend were reported to have been with 2 American guys. We were wondering if you could tell us more about them."

The bartender looked at them blankly. "Dude, They were French. I couldn't name 2 American guys who _weren't_ all over them."

"Their names where Lucas and Marco. They come here almost every night. They took the girls out the back door to the alley way over there." A voice behind them said.

All of the cops looked behind them. Standing there was a girl, about 25, very Italian looking, with a heavy accent. She was holding a rag and a beer cup.

"Who are you?" Danny asked.

"Giovanna Rossi. Your boys live up the street. They're brothers."

"Ok. Danny and Derek, you guys go out back. See if you can find any clues. I'm going to talk to Ms. Rossi." Lindsay ordered.

"Sure boss." Derek said. And he walked towards the back. Danny followed him.

The alleyway was long and it smelled bad. Danny had to hold back a gag. It smelled like stale beer and throw up about a hundred times over.

"God it smells." Derek exclaimed, matching Danny's thoughts.

"I'll say. Smells worse then the Ricci case." Danny agreed.

"What was the Ricci case?" Derek asked while looking along the walls looking for anything that could help the investigation.

"Body found in a land fill. Smelled like layers and layers of old Chinese food and sour milk. Me and Lindsay worked the case." Danny got a small smile on his face and Derek noticed the look in his eyes.

"Stay away from my partner." Derek said nonchalantly.

Danny stopped. "Excuse me?"

"Stay away from Lindsay. She doesn't need you to break her heart again." Derek said slower, more deliberate.

"She doesn't need people to speak for her." Danny narrowed his eyes. "And I don't have any intention of breaking her heart again. Even if I wanted to, Lindsay won't let me close enough."

"You have every intention of trying to make things right between you two, and I respect that. But you aren't going to try and get things back to how they used to be. You and Lindsay are done. She's put back together now. Don't break her again."

"Look, I didn't mean to hurt her. I never wanted that. It was a mistake-" Danny replied hotly.

"It was a mistake that you'll make again! I know your type. That's not going to happen to Lindsay again." Derek glared.

The two men were standing in defensive, yet confrontational stances. They both were glaring heavily and were more then happy to fight.

"That's not me anymore. It took me a long time to realize it, but I do now. I love Lindsay-"

"No _I _love Lindsay!" Derek yelled. "She is my partner, she is my best friend, and I will be damned before I let you, or your damn Yankee crew ruin her again! You weren't there when I had to fight to get her to open up to me. You were not there when she needed you the most. You don't love her-" Derek ranted but was cut off by Danny's fist ramming into his face.

Derek stumbled back, and clutched his nose.

"What the HELL is going on here?" Lindsay's voice and figure rushed from the back door out to the alley.


	22. Chapter 22

**Hey all hope you like last chapter. Thanks for reviews.**

_**And I want to make something clear... When I said Derek loved Lindsay, I meant in a Brother or best friend way. Not a romantic one. And it's completely my fault for wording it the way I did. **_

* * *

Previously-

"_No I love Lindsay!" Derek yelled. "She is my partner, she is my best friend, and I will be damned before I let you, or your damn Yankee crew ruin her again! You weren't there when I had to fight to get her to open up to me. You were not there when she needed you the most. You don't love her-" Derek ranted but was cut off by Danny's fist ramming into his face._

_Derek stumbled back, and clutched his nose. _

"_What the HELL is going on here?" Lindsay's voice and figure rushed from the back door out to the alley._

"What are you doing?" Lindsay yelled. "Well?"

When no one answered, she stormed over to Derek to get a good look at his nose. When she saw it was fine, she walked over and looked at Danny's hand.

"We are at a _crime scene_. You can't go punching each other out like that! What the hell was this even about?" Lindsay ranted.

"I was just making something clear to Detective Messer." Derek forced out, "Dammit!" he winced when he saw all of the blood.

She looked at both of them. She saw Danny's rage and Derek's protective defiance. She realized what this whole thing was about. "Oh my God!" She said, her voice was unbelieving but pissed off. "This really is not the time for a macho, male, testosterone fueled battle over my- Jeeze I have no idea why your even fighting!"

She stomped off back toward the club and walked through the doors, but not before shouting behind her, "You two are idiots! And we are sending the uniforms after Lucas and Marko Philips. Come back to the car after you remember that you are grown men. Police officers no less!"

"Well that could have been worse." Danny mumbled to himself. Then defiantly turned to Derek.

"I don't care what you think of me. I don't care that you think I am bad for Montana. I am going to prove to her that she can trust me again." He said.

Derek was silent for a minute, he winced and snapped his broken nose back into place. "Okay." He said friendly. Like they were talking about going to the movies or a baseball game.

"Okay?" Danny repeated wary. "That's it?"

"Okay." Derek confirmed. "Any guy willing to break my nose- my nose- an FBI agents nose- all to prove what I already knew, that your in love with her, is fine by me." He smiled and laughed, before turning serious, "If you hurt her again, I will kill you. And I will get away with it. Not even your brilliant boss, Mac Taylor will be able to help you."

He headed back to the door that Lindsay stormed through. "Oh and if you can get Lindsay to forgive you… well then… more power to you." He laughed again exiting through the doors, leaving a dumbstruck Danny standing there. Before he too eventually went back in.

The drive home was tense and silent. The seats in the car were the same, with Derek and Danny in the front, and Lindsay in the back. Lindsay was still very unhappy over the events that transpired and though she wouldn't admit it, she was a bit flattered.

Danny was uncomfortable in the car. He kept think what he would say to Lindsay. Wondering how she would take his revelation.

And Derek, well, Derek found the whole thing hilarious. He loved Lindsay, he really did. She was his little sister, but she could be so… oblivious.

When they got to the Crime lab, the car had barely stopped before Lindsay jumped out and slammed the door behind her.

"Lindsay!" Danny called after her. But she kept on stalking through the doors and headed straight for Mac and Stella, who were talking.

"How was it?" Mac asked.

"Never again will I _ever _take them together. Never." She forced out before she stomped away towards the locker rooms to put away her things.

"Lindsay!" Danny followed her exasperated. "Slow down."

"No Danny. I won't slow down." She stated annoyed, as she finally stopped at her locker. "I can't believe you! You hit my partner. You can't just do that!"

"He deserved it."

"Oh I know. He always deserves it." she sighed. "What do you want?"

"We need to talk. About us." Danny looked her in the eye.

"There is nothing to talk about. There is no 'us'. There hasn't been for years."

* * *

_4 years ago-_

"_Monroe." Lindsay answered her phone dejectedly._

"_Detective Monroe? This is FBI director Tobias Garret. I'd like to talk to you about your job." _

"_Sir?" she answered unsurely. "What about my job?"_

"_I'd like to offer you a new one. With me. As an FBI agent down in Washington DC." _

_Lindsay was shocked into silence. "What? I'm sorry, I don't understand. I haven't worked on any high profile cases. Why would you want to offer me a job?"_

"_I've been tracking you and your cases for sometime. You do good work in New York. I think you could benefit us here at headquarters." The director lied about them tracking her, however looking back at her files, he was surprised that he _hadn't_ tried to recruit her._

"_Your serious?" She said perplexed. 'This could be great' she thought._

"_Yes. Of course you'd need to go through training. And you would probably have some catching up to do with the cases headquarters we are working on, but if what I was told was correct, you should find a nice home here." He said._

_Lindsay sat down in her office chair. She thought about it for a second. She looked over to Danny and Flack talking down the hall. She sighed. _

"_I don't think I can, sir. I have a place in the lab. And a partner and… well I don't think I can't just abandon New York." It sounded false to her own ears._

_The director sighed. "Think about it Detective. You could do great things here. We would give you a pay raise, and there would be better hours."_

_She smiled. Then she saw Stella walk by her office and frowned. Stella glared at her as she walked by._

"_I'll have to talk to my boss."_

"_Of course."_

"_When do I start?" She grinned. So did the director._

"_I'll give you a month to move. So how about February 23?"_

"_Umm- thank you, sir." She hung up the phone. This _will_ be good. _

_She had to go talk to Mac._

* * *

Present-

"Oh come on Lindsay! There is still an us. Four years doesn't change the feelings we had for each other." Danny argued.

"No, but the fact that you cheated on me changes feelings." she retorted calmly.

"Are you going to bring that up every time we fight?" He snapped. "We have established that I cheated. I slept with another women. Get over it! I loved you. I still love you. And I don't know what to say to make you understand that."

"Then don't say anything." She turned to walk away.

He shouted in frustration. Then he quickly yanked her arm back and in shock, she turned back only to be met with a demanding, desperate and completely familiar kiss.

She let herself melt for a moment before she realized what she was doing. She forcefully broke the kiss and backed away.

"Are you insane?" She yelled.


	23. Chapter 23

This quick little AN is to 'york' who reviewed. Danny and Lindsay's relationship in this story was never 'healthy' but at some point Lindsay needs to either move on from the past or not. And I think I have started her moving on process fine. When you make your own story, you can bring them back together how ever you want or you can have her shoot him. But until then, this is how I do it. This is my way of bringing them back together.

Hope you like the next chapter.

* * *

Chapter 22

Previously-

_He shouted in frustration. Then he quickly yanked her arm back and in shock, she turned back only to be met with a demanding, desperate and completely familiar kiss._

_She let herself melt for a moment before she realized what she was doing. She forcefully broke the kiss and backed away._

"_Are you insane?" She yelled. _

Present-

"Getting close to it." Danny mumbled as he backed away. Lindsay was staring at him outraged.

They were both silent for a moment.

"So that's it? Your just going to kiss me? No explanation?"

Danny shrugged sheepishly. "Kissing was what we did best."

She gaped open mouth at him. And if Danny was being honest with himself, he contemplated doing it again. That was before when she wordlessly walked closer and brought her hand up to slap him. Danny winced and carefully caught her arm before it made contact with his cheek.

"Hey now, none of that. I'm still reeling from last time you did that." Danny hadn't released her arm. They were standing so close together, Danny could feel Lindsay's body heat. She glared indignantly at him.

"You deserved it. Both times," She forced out. "And if you want to keep your hand, you will release my arm.

He didn't.

"I deserved the first one. Not this one." He smiled a bit. "You kissed back."

"For a second. Before I remembered who you are." She retorted, flushing from embarrassment or anger. Danny couldn't really tell.

He sighed and glanced at her arm struggling to get out of his grip. "If I let your arm go, will you try to hit me again?"

Lindsay stopped fighting. She looked down. "No. Probably not."

"Can we talk about this, or are you going to storm away?" He slowly released her arm, glancing warily at it.

She glared at him and gracefully sat down on one of the benches. Danny quickly followed suit on the bench opposite to her. He thought about what he was going to say for a minute.

"Earlier you asked me why I let you take the blame for my affair." Danny began. "I never really answered you."

"No you didn't." Lindsay was curious. She didn't expect Danny to bring there previous conversation up again.

"I let you do that because I wasn't sure." He paused. "I had chased you for almost two years. Then we were together. And, it was… amazing. But you were Lindsay. You're a 'forever girl.' The type of girl I would want to marry. And I wasn't sure I wanted that. I've only ever been Danny Messer, womanizer. Then there you were with your big brown eyes and country ways, and I wasn't _me_ anymore. I was the kind of guy that wanted to spend time with you above going to the ball game with his friends. I was… in love with you."

He wasn't looking at her anymore. He stopped looking at her almost right after he started. But she was looking at him, with intense eyes burning with questions. She was about to speak but Danny held up his hand and continued.

"When Ruben died and Rikki… when Rikki and I slept together, that's when I truly realized it. I thought that if I was in love with you, then I could never be the same. And then that damn phone call… and you knew what I did, and I was so confused. I thought I didn't want any of that. After Stella and Flack turned the blame on you, I figured it would give me time to think." Danny looked like he was in a different world, like he was relaying everything that happened in the past, to himself for the first time.

"I didn't think about you at all. All I thought was that I needed time to think. I never thought they would take it so far. Then you left. And everything was… wrong. Just wrong. It took you leaving for me to realize that… you and me? That's what I wanted. _You_ were all I wanted. I wanted late nights on the pool table and I wanted to tell Flack, when he called, that I didn't have time to go have a beer with him because I was watching a movie with you. But you were gone. And I thought that… Hell I don't even know anymore."

He finished. Lindsay was quiet for a long time, her elbows were on her knees and she was hunched over, with her head in her hands.

"And now?" She eventually asked, "What do you want from me Danny? Do you want me to say how everything has changed because you said that? What do you want? Because I sure as hell don't know." She was practically begging him to make the whole thing make sense.

"All I know is that I want you. I want us back. I want you to give me another chance."

"I can't." Her voice was shaking. "I can't go through the hurt again."

"It wouldn't happen again. We made sense Lindsay. City boy and Country girl. Cowboy and Montana? That was us. We were perfect. We could be that again. If you just gave me the chance." He said his voice full of emotion.

"And if I did, it might be wonderful. It might be magical. It could be everything I had waited for. But even if fell in love with you again. It would _never_ be the way I had loved you." She quietly stated.

"Is that such a bad thing?" He asked raw emotion in his voice. She was left speechless. "The way you loved me before. You said that it hurt. That it was painful. I'm a different person then I was then. I'm older. In the last four years so many things have changed! Losing you was one of the hardest things I had ever gone through! I loved you. And you left!"

"Because of you!" she cried. "Don't make me out to be the bad guy!"

"I'm not!" He yelled frustrated. "I- Ugh- How do you always do this! You twist everything around! Your impossible!"

"Oh I'm impossible. Do you have ANY idea how hard you are to love?" Lindsay threw her arms up in frustration.

"See. There you go. You just said love. Not loved. Love. As in present tense-"

"I know what I said." She snapped.

She looked at him hardly. Really looked. And she noticed differences about who he was and who he is now. His eyes are still blue, glasses still in place. His hair still slightly spiked. His accent was still just as heavy as ever, yet there were subtle changes in his demeanor. There was a sense of maturity that was absent from the boy she knew. He was more serious, like he had seen too may bad things. But he still had that spark. That _damn spark _in his eyes, that made him _Danny. _The Danny she had been in love with.

* * *

_4 years ago-_

"_I'm leaving." Lindsay told Mac bluntly from the door to his office. She was leaning back against the door. It was late at night and most of the team had gone home. Mac looked up. With a passive look on his face._

"_Fine. You have the day off tomorrow so You won't be in until-" He began._

"_No. I mean I'm leaving. This lab, New York." She walked closer to Mac's desk and sat down in one of his chairs._

"_Oh." Mac was taken back. He hadn't expected Tobias to get her so quickly. He had expected at least another month with her._

"_That's all you have to say?" Lindsay looked lighter, freer somehow. "You know what? It doesn't even matter." She stood to get up._

"_Where are you planning on going?" He asked nonchalantly._

_She smiled. "DC." _

"_As in Washington DC?" Now Mac was interested. He had assumed Tobias would send her to a different field office then headquarters. Maybe Charlotte. He was surprised to find that Tobias was putting her with his favorite teams in DC._

"_Yeah. Job offer from the FBI." He could tell that she was slightly confused as to why she was being offered the job, but she smiled brightly. "It'll be good for me."_

"_Sure. I guess, I'll take this as your two week notice then?" He asked disinterestedly. _

"_No actually. I'll tell the team tomorrow. Then I think I'm leaving that night. I gave two week notice two weeks ago, to one of your superiors."_

_Mac nodded stiffly. Lindsay smile turned tight._

"_I just want to say that it's been an… honor working with you. I know that we haven't gotten along lately." She grimaced. "But uh- Thank you. For everything you've done for me."_

_Lindsay reached her hand out for him to shake. He looked at it, made no move to shake it._

"_Just stay away from New York. It's better that way. For everyone." He said._

_She took her hand back then sighed. Then chuckled darkly. "Well, what do I say to that?"_

_She shook her head and walked out the door without another glance back._

* * *

Present-

"What does that make us?" Danny asked tiredly.

"Stuck." She smiled a bit. "We are at an impasse."

"I don't want us to be at an impasse. I want us to be… more then that at least."

"Maybe in time." She smiled, then she got up.

She put her hand down to help him up. He took it.

* * *

_4 years ago-_

"_Your what?" Stella exclaimed._

"_Quitting. Moving. Getting out of this place. Whatever you want to call it." Lindsay repeated._

"_Really? Monroe, your quitting on us? After the fun we have been having this month. I'm hurt." Flack said sarcastically. But he was shocked. He didn't think she would up and quit. _

"_I' sure you'll get over it quickly." She retorted._

"_Lindsay, I know we've been hard on ya' but-" Danny started._

"_This is going to be good. Think of it as a victory." Lindsay skipped on as if she hadn't heard it. "A few months ago, I never would have considered leaving this place. You guys won." She said bitterly._

_The room was quiet. Stella shifted uncomfortably. Flack was just still. Hawkes was feeling guilty. As much as he disliked Lindsay for what she did, he didn't want her to leave. And Adam was the same way._

_Lindsay smiled at all of them. Sadly. She tilted her head and gave one final long glance. She quietly turned around and walked to her locked to gather her things for the last time._


	24. Chapter 24

**Hey everyone! I'm sorry for taking so long! I'm on vacation. Anyway.. here you go…**

* * *

"Lindsay Monroe, overworked, under paid FBI agent, at your service." Lindsay answered her phone. She wasn't in a great mood considering the two days with an unsolved, high priority case.

"Agent Monroe, how are things?" Director Garret's slightly amused but mostly stern voice asked.

Lindsay sat up in her chair, even though nobody was in the room. It was like a reflex action.

"Things are fine, sir." She responded hesitantly.

"Is there progress with the case?"

"My team and the New York crime lab are running down a lead as we speak. It's been harder then we thought with the little evidence we have."

"I see. But you will still manage to close the case, correct?"

"Of course. The case will be solved, I will make sure of it." Lindsay confidently stated. She glanced up to see Flack walking by the door. He glanced her way and stopped. She waved him in.

"Good. You're a good agent, Lindsay. I would hate for this to be the one case that gets away. Especially with all of the _extra_ effort you have had to put into it." He hinted.

"Thank you, I think. I'm sorry sir, if you will excuse me. I think we just hit a breakthrough with the case."

"Alright. Oh and Lindsay? If you ever answer the phone like that again… well you and your 'underpaid' self, will find a reprimand in your file. I may like you Lindsay, but I like my job even more. If that were one of my colleagues answering the phone, you would be out of a job."

"Yes sir. It won't happen again." She gulped. And ended the call. She turned to Flack.

"Please tell me there is some great new break though with the case." She begged.

"Well… we brought in the two men, you, Danny, and your boy toy found at the club. There in interrogation 1 And 2, for when ever you want to deal with them." He told her, with a slight apologetic tone. He smartly chose not to comment on the phone call.

She sighed. "So… no person walking in saying 'I killed her and I have damning evidence to prove it' ?"

"Nope, sorry." He laughed. She slumped.

"Well then, we had better go talk to them." She got up and walked over to the door.

"Hey Linds. We're cool right?" Flack asked, gesturing between the two.

Lindsay smiled tightly. "Sure Flack," She responded evasively. Then walked out. Flack sighed and followed her.

He didn't believe her for a second.

* * *

_4 years ago-_

_The walk down the hall to the locker room was short and silent. The locker room itself was deserted and cast a fitting mood. Lindsay quickly found her locker and punched in the combination. She hesitated before opening it. But the hesitation passed and she pulled it open._

_She grabbed all of her essentials, her clothes and the pictures of her family. She reached to grab the other pictures. The one's of the team. There was one with Stella and her and Sullivan's. There was another with Mac and her. Then there was a picture of the whole team smiling at the camera. The picture was taking a year after she came to New York. And finally there was the one picture of her and Danny._

_Before she grabbed them she stopped. Her hand was floating right above the photo. She closed her eyes and smiled. She put her hand down and grabbed her gun and badge. She shut the locker and leaned up against it for support._

"_I'm really doing this." She mumbled to herself. _

_After almost three years of working with these people, she was leaving. Lindsay briefly wondered back to the girl she replaced… Aiden. She wondered if this was what Aiden was feeling when she left. She shook the thought away._

* * *

Present-

"Hello Lucas. My name is Lindsay Monroe and I am with the FBI." Lindsay stated walking into interrogation room 1.

"What the hell is going on here? Why am I here?" Lucas demanded. "I didn't do anything."

Lindsay picked up a file that was on the table before sitting down. "Hmm. Drunk and disorderly. Assault. Assault with a deadly weapon… The list goes on and on. And it doesn't look like your brother is much better."

"My brother?" He said confused. "What is this about."

Lindsay pursed her lips and continued to ignore him while reading over his file. "Two restraining orders. Well, you've lived a full life."

The interrogation room door opened. Danny walked casually in the room and stood beside Lindsay.

"Want some help?" he asked. "Flack and Agent Reid are interviewing the brother."

Lindsay shrugged. "Sure, why not. And you can call him Derek, you know." He nodded.

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Lucas yelled. He was a good looking man. Around 30 with Dark brown hair and green eyes. But there was a cold look to them. Almost sinister.

Lindsay handed the file to Danny, who looked at it and rose his eyebrows. Lindsay finally focused on Lucas.

"You are here because we have witnesses putting yourself, and your brother with Diana Alexander and Giselle Brown near the time of Diana's murder." She said.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." He mumbled, "Look I don't know anything about any murder."

"Are you sure? Because the way we figure it, you, your brother, and the girls were having a good time when you walked by Central Park. But when the girls wanted to go home, you didn't want the entire night to be wasted. So when you guys tried to hook up with them… they said no and you didn't like that." Danny thought up the story.

"It wasn't like that." He insisted. "Those girls were nice. A little hard to understand, but nice. They said from the start that nothing like that was going to happen. Diana said we would probably get shot if we tried anything."

Lindsay and Danny shared a look. Lindsay looked back to Lucas. "So then what happened?"

He sighed. "Nothing. We had fun. We walked through the park. But Uh- the other one… Giselle said she left something in the park. So her and Diana went back. We said goodbye and went our separate ways. That's it. I swear."

Danny whispered to Lindsay. "Giselle didn't mention anything about that did she?"

Lindsay shook her head and smiled. "Thank you. This has been very helpful."

Danny and Lindsay stepped out of the room. They walked a bit before stopping.

"What do you think?" Lindsay asked him.

"I think that we need to talk to the victim's friend."

"We?" She said skeptically.

"We are partners aren't we?" He smiled. She tilted her head.

"For now, I guess." She put on a cheery face. "Just like the old days."

* * *

_4 years ago-_

_Lindsay felt light, like she was floating. Maybe, hovering over her body and watching herself in auto pilot as she made her way to Mac's office the final time. No one was in at the moment, so she quietly walked in and looked around. _

_She walked to his desk and put her gun and badge on it. She looked at a picture of Mac, her and Stella. She casually knocked it over, to where it shattered on the ground._

"_Whoops." she mumbled. She knew it was immature, but oh well._

_She picked up her bag and walked out of the room and went forward until she reached the exit of the building. Before she reached the door she stopped and looked back around. She looked for the last time. She looked up to the second level and saw Danny walking by._

_She turned back around and quickly made her exit and hailed a cab._

"_Where to?" the cabbie asked._

"_Airport."_

* * *

**Hope you guys liked it. Sorry for the wait.**


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